Chapter 2 - The Transpersonal Nature of the Physical Body...terms, but only by a complete change of...

Chapter 2 - The Transpersonal Nature of the Physical Body

1

INTRODUCTION

The incredible case of Mr. Wright. In 1956, a healthy

and vibrantly active individual named Mr. Wright

developed lymphosarcoma, cancer of the lymph nodes.

His condition had deteriorated to such an extent that the

tumors in his neck, groin, chest, and abdomen had grown

to the size of oranges; his chest had to be emptied of one

to two liters of milky fluid every other day. Doctors did

not believe that he had much longer to live. Mr. Wright,

however, has heard about an upcoming clinical test of a

new experimental drug, called Krebiozen, and pleaded

with them to include him in the study. Even though Mr.

Wright was past the point of saving, the doctors gave in to

his persistent requests and entered him into the clinical

trials of what was later to prove to be a worthless drug.

Of the 12 people in his experimental group, he alone

showed brilliant improvement. His tumors “melted like

snowballs on a hot stove” and within10 days, all signs of

Mr. Wright‟s cancer had vanished. Within two months,

however, news reports of the ineffectiveness of Krebiozen

started to reach Mr. Wright. His confidence in the drug

began to falter, and soon all his symptoms returned. Near

death, his physician decided to perform an unorthodox

experiment. He informed Mr. Wright that a new,

improved, double-strength formula of Krebiozen has been

developed and that Mr. Wright had been selected to prove

its efficacy. Within days of receiving the fresh water

placebo, Mr. Wright‟s symptoms of cancer again

disappeared. Tumors vanished and chest fluid

disappeared. Within two months, press announcements

declared Krebiozen a worthless drug. Mr. Wright‟s faith

finally gone, he succumbed to the disease within days

(Klopfer, 1957).

Figure 2-1 presents the original report on Mr. Wright

presented by his psychiatrist, Dr. Bruno Klopfer, in his

Presidential Address to the Society of Projective

Techniques in 1957.

Figure 2-1.

The Incredible Case of Mr. Wright

A glimpse of the body’s healing system. Mr. Wright‟s

remarkable experience tells us a great deal about the unity

of body and mind, about the body‟s transpersonal

capacity for transformation, and about how the body is

equipped, ideally speaking, to rid itself of any disease.

Indeed, as we will see in this chapter, “these powers of

the body are biologically quite achievable in practical

terms, but only by a complete change of focus and belief”

(Roberts, 1979, pp. 330-331).

A glimpse of the transpersonal nature of the physical

body Mr. Wright‟s experience also provides us a

glimpse of the true transpersonal nature of the physical

body. The “transpersonal” nature of the physical body

refers to its transformative capacity to extend and expand

biological processes beyond their usual physiological

parameters to encompass nonphysical aspects of life,

mind and consciousness, and even transcend the

limitations of time and space under certain circumstances.

It refers to the physical body‟s potential to direct and use

its energy to richly form from itself, from its biological

components and inner experience, with a sense of

meaning and purpose, a broad range of possibilities for

human transformative capacity and extraordinary

functioning. To start, let us consider twelve varieties of

evidence:

Placebo response

Imagery and healing

Biofeedback

Hypnosis

Cultural beliefs and personal attitudes

Acts of will

Multiple personality disorder

Spontaneous remission

Miraculous cures at Lourdes

Intercessory prayer

Charismatic phenomena (stigmata, body

incombustibility, blood prodigies, endia,

invulnerability to injury, physical

materializations, body elongation)

Birthmarks suggestive of reincarnation.

The implications of this evidence for a solution to the

century-old mind-body problem from a transpersonal

point of view will be discussed. We will see that mind

matters and how matter has a mind of its own. Finally,

activities and exercises for tuning into and turning on the

transpersonal nature of the physical body for increased

energy and health, strength and vitality, comprehension

and creativity are described.


2

Figure 2-1. The Incredible Case of Mr. Wright (Klopfer, 1957, pp. 331-340; see also Rossi, 1986, pp. 4-7)

Mr. Wright had a generalized far advanced malignancy involving the lymphnodes, lymphosarcoma.

Eventually the day came when he developed resistance to all known palliative treatments. Also, his

increasing anemia precluded any intensive efforts with X-rays or nitrogen mustard, which might

otherwise have been attempted. Huge tumor masses the size of oranges were in the neck, axillas, groin,

chest, and abdomen. The spleen and liver were enormous. The thoracic duct was obstructed, and between

1 and 2 liters of milky fluid had to be drawn from his chest every other day. He was taking oxygen by

mask frequently, and our impression was that he was in a terminal state, untreatable, other than to give

sedatives to ease him on his way.

In spite of all this, Mr. Wright was not without hope, even though his doctors most certainly were. The

reason for this was that the new drug that he had expected to come along and save the day had already

been reported in the newspapers! Its name was “Krebiozen” (subsequently shown to be a useless, inert

preparation).

Then he heard in some way that our clinic was to be one of a hundred places chosen by the Medical

Association for evaluation of this treatment. We were allotted supplies of the drug sufficient for treating

12 selected cases. Mr. Wright was not considered eligible, since one stipulation was that the patient must

not only be beyond the point where standard therapies could benefit, but also must have a certain life

expectancy of at least three, and preferably six, months. He certainly didn‟t qualify on the latter point, and

to give him a prognosis of more than two weeks seemed to be stretching things.

However, a few days later, the drug arrives, and we began setting up our testing program which, of

course, did not include Mr. Wright. When he heard we were going to begin treatment with Krebiozen, his

enthusiasm knew no bounds, and as much as I tried to dissuade him, he begged so hard for this „golden

opportunity,‟ that against my better judgment, and against the rules of the Krebiozen committee, I decided

I would have to include him. Injections were to be given three times weekly, and I remember he received

his first one on a Friday. I didn‟t see him again until Monday and thought as I came to the hospital he

might be moribund or dead by that time, and his supply of the drug could then be transferred to another

case.

What a surprise was in store for me! I had left him febrile, gasping for air, completely bedridden. Now,

here he was, walking around the ward, chatting happily with the nurses, and spreading his message of

good cheer to any who would listen. Immediately I hastened to see the others who had received their first

injection at the same time. No change, or change for the worse, was noted. Only in Mr. Wright was there

brilliant improvement. The tumor masses had melted like snowballs on a hot stove, and in only these few

days, they were half their original size! This is, of course, far more rapid regression than the most radio-

sensitive tumor could display under heavy X-ray given every day. And we already knew his tumor was no

longer sensitive to irradiation. Also, he had had no other treatment outside of the single useless „shot.‟

This phenomenon demanded an explanation, but not only that, it almost insisted that we open our minds

to learn, rather than try to explain. So, the injections were given three times weekly as planned, much to

the joy of the patient, but much to our bewilderment.

Within 10 days [Mr. Wright] was able to be discharged from his „death-bed,‟ practically all signs of his

disease having vanished in this short time. Incredible as it sounds, this „terminal‟ patient, gasping his last

breath through an oxygen mask, was now not only breathing normally, and fully active, he took off in his

plane and flew at 12,000 feet with no discomfort.


3

Figure 2-1. The Incredible Case of Mr. Wright (continued) (Klopfer, 1957, pp. 331-340; see also Rossi, 1986, pp. 4-7)

This unbelievable situation occurred at the beginning of the „Krebiozen‟ evaluation, but within two

months, conflicting reports began to appear in the news, all of the testing clinics reporting no results. At

the same time, the originators of the treatment were still blindly contradicting the discouraging facts that

were beginning to emerge.

This disturbed our Mr. Wright considerably as the weeks wore on. Although he had no special training, he

was, at times, reasonably logical and scientific in his thinking. He began to lose faith in his last hope

which so far had been life-saving and left nothing to be desired. As the reported results became

increasingly dismal, his faith waned, and after two months of practically perfect health, he relapsed to his

original state, and became very gloomy and miserable.

But here I saw an opportunity to double-check the drug and maybe, too, find out how the quacks can

accomplish the results that they claim (and many of their claims are well substantiated). Knowing

something of my patient‟s innate optimism by this time, I deliberately took advantage of him. This was

for purely scientific reasons, in order to perform the perfect control experiment which could answer all

the perplexing questions he had brought up. Furthermore, this scheme could not harm him in any way, I

felt sure, and there was nothing I knew anyway that could help him.

When Mr. Wright had all but given up in despair with the recrudescence of his disease, in spite of the

„wonder-drug‟ which had worked so well at first, I decided to take the chance and play the quack. So

deliberately lying, I told him not to believe what he read in the papers, the drug was really most promising

after all. „What then,‟ he asked, „was the reason for his relapse?‟ „Just because the substance deteriorated

on standing,‟ I replied, „a new super-refined, double-strength product is due to arrive tomorrow which can

more than reproduce the great benefits derived from the original injections.‟

This news came as a great revelation to him, and Mr. Wright, as ill as he was, became his optimistic self

again, eager to start over. By delaying a couple of days before the „shipment‟ arrived, his anticipation of

salvation had reached a tremendous pitch. When I announced that the new series of injections was about

to begin, he was almost ecstatic, and his faith was very strong.

With much fanfare, and putting on quite an act (which I deemed permissible under the circumstances), I

administered the first injection of the doubly potent, fresh preparation – consisting of fresh water and

nothing more. The results of this experiment were quite unbelievable to us at the time, although we must

have had some suspicion of the remotely possible outcome to have even attempted it at all.

Recovery from his second near-terminal state was even more dramatic than the first. Tumor masses

melted, chest fluid vanished, he became ambulatory, and even went back to flying again. At this time he

was certainly the picture of health. The water injections were continued, since they worked such wonders.

He then remained symptom-free for over two moths. At this time the final AMA announcement appeared

in the press – „nationwide tests show Krebiozen to be a worthless drug in treatment of cancer.‟

Within a few days of this report, Mr. Wright was readmitted to the hospital in extremis. His faith now

gone, his last hope vanished, and he succumbed in less than two days.


4

EVIDENCE OF

HUMAN TRANSFORMATIVE CAPACITY

The Placebo Response

“Placebo response” defined. Mr. Wright‟s total faith

and belief in the efficacy of a worthless drug cured him of

cancer. In the medical literature, Mr. Wright‟s experience

of healing is regarded as an example of “the placebo

response.” A placebo is “any medical procedure that

produces an effect in the patient because of its therapeutic

intent and not its specific nature, whether chemical or

physical” (Liberman, 1962, p. 761). “The placebo

response is so powerful that no drug can be marketed in

the United States unless it has been evaluated against a

placebo” (Taylor, 2003, p. 314).

Placebos in the history of medicine. It was the power of

belief that some historians of medicine believe were

responsible for the observed effectiveness of patently

useless, inactive medical treatments such as ground-up

fox lung for tuberculosis, powered deer antlers for

impotence, sheep dung for gallstones, goose dung for

baldness, turtle blood for blood clots, and downright

harmful procedures such as blood letting, vomiting,

blistering, freezing, heating, and leeching and yet patients

got better (Shapiro, 1959). The history of medicine

shows that many such home remedies and medical

treatments administered in the early days of medicine

were pharmacologically inert yet relieved an amazing

range of illnesses, produced few toxic side effects, and

significantly altered mood and behavior largely because

of the law of belief and the power of the subconscious

mind (Shapiro, 1960). Physicians of the time understood

that thoughts and beliefs, emotions and feelings, imagery

and language had powerful effects and were used

regularly to help activate the healing system of the body.

“Placebos can be more powerful than, and

reverse the action of, potent active drugs …The

incidence of placebo reactions approaches 100%

in some studies. Placebos can have profound

effects on organic illnesses, including incurable

malignancies …. Placebos can mimic the effects

usually thought to be the exclusive property of

active drugs” (Shapiro, 1964, p. 74).

Placebos as good as medicine? Pharmacologically

active drugs such as penicillin, insulin, or morphine can

become either less or more effective, depending on the

patient‟s attitude toward them. For instance, morphine can

lose as much as 25% of its effectiveness as a pain killer if

patients think they have only received a placebo;

placebos can reduce pain by as much as 35% if patients

think they have received morphine instead (Beecher,

1959). “Placebos are associated with at least 50%

reduction of pain in about one-third of patients suffering

from a wide variety of traumatic and postoperative pain.

The powerful analgesic morphine produces similar relief

in one three-fourths of patients” (Franks & Franks, 1991,

p. 136). The remarkable efficacy of placebos is

considered so reliable and valid that “the difference

between the effectiveness of the drug and the

effectiveness of the placebo is considered to be a measure

of the drug‟s actual effectiveness” (Taylor, 2003, p. 315).

A provocative example of the direct physical effects of

placebos on bodily processes appeared in the World

Journal of Surgery (Fielding et al., 1983) in which 30

percent of the control group – who were expecting an

injection of a chemotherapy agent but were given a

placebo instead – actually lost all their hair!

Placebos as good as surgery? Blair Justice in her 1987

book, Who Gets Sick, describes how placebos may be “as

good as surgery” (Justice, 1987, p. 278). A classic 1979

study of placebo surgery published in the New England

Journal of Medicine involving “litigation of the internal

mammary artery”(a surgical procedure designed to

increase circulation of the heart and treat angina pectoris,

the acute chest and arm pain caused by temporary

shortages of oxygen and nourishment to the heart)

reported that patients who underwent a fake, placebo

surgery (so-called “sham operation” where the patient is

wheeled into the operation room, skin incisions are made

under anesthesia but no actual operation is performed)

experienced equivalent self-reported relief from anginal

pain, therapeutic need for post-operative nitroglycerine

drugs, and tolerance for exercise as measured by

electrocardiogram as those patients who underwent the

actual surgical procedure. The study “demonstrated that

litigation of the internal mammary artery was no better

than a skin incision, and that such an incision could lead

to a dramatic sustained placebo effect” (Benson &

McCallie, 1979, p. 1426).


5

Coronary by pass surgery. In a double-blind study of

coronary bypass surgery to treat angina pectoris, it was

found that 90% of patients undergoing actual coronary

bypass surgery and 60% of patients undergoing placebo

surgery experienced equivalent relief of anginal pain,

improved quality of life, and increased tolerance for

exercise (National Cooperative Study Group, 1976).

Inner ear surgery. Blair Justice reports another placebo

surgery study conducted in Denmark that involved

“15 patients who underwent a prescribed

„endolymphatic sac shunt‟ for Meniere‟s disease,

a disorder of the inner ear characterized by

deafness, dizziness and a buzzing in the head.

Fifteen patients with the same disorder received

a placebo operation. A three-year follow-up

showed no significant difference between the

surgery and placebo groups. About 70 percent in

both groups had nearly complete relief of

symptoms” (quoted in Justice, 1987, p. 279;

Thomsen, Bretlau, Tos, & Johnsen, 1983).

Effectiveness of surgery not due to surgery alone.

Because ethics governing the conduct of medical research

now requires informed consent of the patient before any

medical procedures are performed, sham surgeries such as

those described above are no longer considered ethically

acceptable to conduct in the United States. What these

studies nevertheless show is that the effectiveness of

surgical procedures may not be due to the surgery alone,

but also to the patient‟s belief that it will lead to the relief

of symptoms – whether the patients actually undergoes

the procedure or not, but simply believe that they did.

Placebo: The healing power of nothing at all. Figure 2-2 identifies the range of medical disorders,

psychiatric syndromes, mood and behavior effects, and

adverse reactions that have been observed to occur

following the administration of a placebo.

Figure 2-2

Placebo: The Power of the Subconscious Mind

In one study of 15 randomized, double-blind studies

involving 1,082 participants, placebos were found to have

produced a 35% cure rate of numerous non-life-

threatening medical problems, ranging from postoperative

pain to angina pectoris discomfort, headache and cold

symptoms, nausea and seasickness, which is slightly less

than the actual effectiveness of either active

pharmacological agents or surgery in relieving such

symptoms (Beecher, 1955).

Importance of set and setting. The cognitive,

environmental, and phenomenological approach has

shown that a placebo‟s effectiveness depends on a variety

of mental, stimulus, and personality variables including:

patient characteristics, aspects of the patient-physician

relationship, situational factors, characteristics of the

placebo itself, the treatment‟s reputation, social norms,

the patient‟s attitude, and the physician‟s beliefs and

behavior (Frank & Frank, 1991, pp. 132-153; White,

Tursky, & Schwartz, 1985). For instance, an active drug‟s

effectiveness can actually decrease from 77% to 10% of

cases if the physician is doubtful over its effectiveness

(Feldman, 1956). “The effectiveness of the placebo

varies…depending upon how much the patient expects to

benefit” (Achterberg, 1985, p. 88).

No placebo-prone personality. Most research indicates

that contextual properties of the immediate situation seem

to predominant in generating a placebo, and therefore

there seems to be no placebo-prone personality

(Liberman, 1962; Shapiro, 1964) , suggesting that most

people have the ability to activate their healing system

through a placebo response, although

“Some studies have shown that persons with

certain personality traits consistently respond

more positively to placebos than others. In

general, placebo reactors tend to be anxious, can

let themselves depend on others for help, and can

readily accept others in their socially defined

roles. In a study of placebo responders with

surgical pain, placebo responders tended to be

more dependent, emotionally reactive, and

conventional, while the nonreactors were more

likely to be isolated and mistrustful” (Frank &

Frank (1961/1991, pp. 137-138).

The subconscious mind is the bridge linking belief and

healing. A psychodynamic approach to understanding

Mr. Wright‟s amazing recovery would appeal to the

power of his subconscious mind as responsible for the

cure. Belief, faith, and expectation activated the power of

Mr. Wright‟s subconscious mind to trigger his mind-body

communication and healing system, enabling him to

mobilize the autonomic, endocrine, and immune functions

of his body, to initiate a healing response.


6

Figure 2-2 Placebo: The Power of the Subconscious Mind

(Hurley, 1991, pp. 28-31; Murphy, 1992, chapter 12; White, Tursky, & Schwartz, 1983)

Placebo-Induced Relief from Medical

Disorders

Angina Pectoris, and Essential

Hypertension

Warts

Asthma

Pain

Rheumatoid and Degenerative Arthritis

Hay fever and Other Allergies

Coughing

Migraine Headache

Diabetes

Peptic Ulcer

Seasickness

Common Cold

Cancer

Acne

Radiation Sickness

Multiple Sclerosis

Parkinsonism and Other Organic Brain

Disorders

Obesity

Urinary Incontinence

Placebo-Induced Relief from Psychiatric

Syndromes

Anxiety

Depression

Schizophrenia

Mood and Behavior Influenced By Placebos

Pulse Rate

Observable Calm or Nervousness

Feelings of Comfort or Euphoria

Insomnia and other Sleep Difficulties

Emotional and Perceptual Changes that

Mimic Marijuana Drug Experience

Grip Strength

Blood Pressure

Memory

Adverse Reactions to Placebos

Nausea

Dry Mouth

Heaviness

Headache

Concentration Difficulties

Drowsiness

Fatigue

Unwanted Sleep

Diarrhea

Swelling of the Lips

Weakness

Rash

Decreased or Increased Libido

Bloating of the Lower Abdomen

Dizziness

Lumbar Pain

Anorexia

Blurred Vision

Palpitations


7

“Over the years, medical science has identified the

primary systems of the human body – circulatory

system, digestive system, endocrine system,

autonomic nervous system, parasympathetic

nervous system, and the immune system. But

two other systems that are central in the proper

functioning of a human being need to be

emphasized: the healing system and the belief

system. The two work together. The healing

system is the way the body mobilizes all its

resources to combat disease. The belief system is

often the activator of the healing system

(Cousins, 1981, p. 205)

The inner conscious body. The placebo response

provides a glimpse at the power of the subconscious mind

to precisely awaken, harness, and directs the complicated,

and infinitely varied physiological processes needed to

reduce a headache, overcome an allergy, reduce a fever,

soothe a peptic ulcer, relieve psychiatric symptoms, or

deploy various antibodies needed for the cure of cancer.

The physical body‟s amazingly precise response to

placebos points to its richly creative, purposeful, and

highly discriminating ability to transform energy into

matter. The placebo response suggests that the body

which so creatively directs and uses its energy to initiate,

organize and manipulate inner physiological processes to

respond to meaning and intent is far from unconscious,

but only appears unconscious to an ego structure whose

ignorance and limited focus make it simply not conscious

enough to be able to contain the vast knowledge that

belongs to the inner conscious body from which the outer

ego derives much of its own energy. From one

transpersonal perspective, “The conscious ego rises

indeed out of „the unconscious,‟ but the unconscious

being the creator of the ego, is necessarily far more

conscious than its offspring” (Butts, 2002, p. 435).

Subconscious mind does not distinguish physical fact

from imagined reality Transpersonal psychologist,

Jeanne Achterberg in her 1985 book Imagery and Healing

suggests that, as far as the subconscious mind is

concerned, there is no important difference between an

imagined reality (placebo effect) and a purely physical

one (active medication). For instance,

“People‟s expectations about drinking can be

more potent predictors of behavior than the

pharmacological impact of alcohol (Abrams &

Wilson, 1983). If they think they are drinking

alcohol and expect to get drunk, they will in fact

get drunk even if they drink a placebo” (Radin,

1997, p. 148).

“Our bodies learn to respond to sounds of

footsteps in the dark; they even learn to respond

to thoughts of footsteps in the dark, as if there

are really there. All the biochemical changes that

happen during the real-life exposure can happen

just as well during the fantasy. Thoughts of a

passionate encounter can cause the same juices

to flow as the encounter itself. A whiff of fresh

lavender can bring forth a flood of memories of a

loving grandmother‟s cozy room, along with

feelings of relaxation and security” (Achterberg,

1985, p. 165).

Jeanne Achterberg makes a good point: Our conscious

beliefs and expectations, images and emotions, are

reflected in the body, whether those cognitions, imagery,

and feelings have a basis in physical reality or are simply

imagined. The body always has the conscious mind to

contend with; the unconscious accepts those orders given

to it by the conscious mind. There is one large point,

however, often overlooked.

“The unconscious is not a sponge,

indiscriminately accepting material regardless of

the considerations of your conscious self. All

beliefs or suggestions are first sifted through

your conscious mind, and only those that you

accept are then permitted their penetration into

the other areas of the self” (Roberts, 1974, pp.

355-356).

It is the power of belief that is being demonstrated, not the

inability of the subconscious mind to be highly

discriminating, or an indication of its irrationality,

ignorance, or helplessness under such conditions.

Imagination as the bridge linking mind and body.

Humans are a species that specialize in the use of

imagination. We can anticipate and conceive of a vast

number of probable events and not just actual ones,

manipulating possible outcomes in our imagination with

each one remaining probable until we activate it. As a

consequence, humans inevitably show a wider variety and

range of biological and behavioral reactions than

nonhuman animals do to the same stimuli. The applied

use of the imagination is one of the most distinguishing

marks of our species. Achterberg considers the

imagination to be the bridge linking thought and bodily

processes (Achterberg, 1985, chap. 4). “The placebo does

not have imaginary effects though it operates through the

imagination” (Cousins, 1981, p. 217).


8

Imagery and the Body

Imagery as therapy: The Simonton’s “whole person”

approach to cancer treatment. Radiation oncologist O.

Carl Simonton and psychotherapist Stephanie Matthews-

Simonton, leaders in the holistic health movement,

developed a successful therapeutic approach to

overcoming cancer that combined mind-body imagery

and creative visualization with traditional medical

treatment and psychological and behavioral management,

emphasizing relaxation techniques and physical exercise,

working with the emotions, pain management and goal

setting. Their total therapeutic approach and numerous

case studies demonstrating its effectiveness are described

in their 1978 book, Getting Well Again: A Step-By-Step,

Self-Help Guide to Overcoming Cancer for Patients and

Their Families (Simonton, Simonton, & Creighton, 1978).

Positive belief and expectancy affects the immune

system. In a clinical study of the effectiveness of the

Simonton & Simonton whole-person approach to cancer

treatment, 159 patients with incurable cancer were taught

how to use relaxation and mind-body imagery to alter the

course of their disease. The Simonton‟s whole-person

approach also emphasizes the role of belief and positive

expectancy in influencing bodily processes that determine

health and illness.

Given the importance that a patient‟s view of his or her

prospects for recovery has for the process of getting well

again, the Simontons‟ program works on change a

patient‟s expectancy based on what are termed “negative-

outcome beliefs” (e.g., cancer is synonymous with death,

strikes from without with no hope of controlling it,

treatments are always drastic and ineffective and has

many side effects) toward an expectancy based on

“positive-outcome beliefs” (e.g., cancer is a disease that

may or may not be fatal, the body has its own innate

healing abilities, treatment can be an important ally in

support of the body‟s defenses). “No individual is

helpless… in the face of negative beliefs. He or she can

learn to make choices once again, and thus to choose,

positive concepts, so that they become as natural as

negative beliefs once did” (Roberts, 1997, p. 20)

The Simontons found that the treatment group had a

survival time of more than twice that of patients who

received medical treatment alone following diagnosis

(24.4 months versus 12 months) and concluded that “an

active and positive participation can influence the onset of

the disease, the outcome of treatment, and quality of life”

(Simonton, Simonton, & Creighton, 1978, p. 12). This

study shows that mental imagery appears to have a direct

impact on the immune system.

Imagery as therapy: Bernie Siegel’s Exceptional

Cancer Patients (ECaP) therapy program. Cancer

surgeon Bernie Siegel‟s 1986 book Love, Medicine, and

Miracles: Lessons Learned About Self-Healing from a

Surgeon’s Experience with Exceptional Patients describes

the characteristics of individuals with colon, liver, lung,

brain, breast, or bone cancer whose live expectancy was

one year or less yet who nevertheless survived five years

or more from time of diagnosis (called “exceptional”

cancer patients). These patients who outlived their

expectancy were described as creative, open to new ideas,

flexible, argumentative, openly expressive of emotion,

having a “fighting spirit,” strong egos with high feelings

of self-efficacy and self-worth, and who did not “accept”

or “adjust” to their cancer easily or well (Siegel, 1986).

Using the relaxation and guided imagery approach

developed by the Simontons and Achterberg, Siegel

likewise “found consistent differences between the

images of patients who would do well compared to those

who would do poorly” (Siegel, 1986, p. 157).

The question of “false hope.” Of course, patients who

have worked hard using the Simontons‟ whole-person

approach and who participated in Siegel‟s ECaP program

still died. Many of these individuals, however,

significantly outlived their prognosis and lived a more

rewarding life than they would have otherwise as a result

of participating in the Simontons‟ psychological approach

to cancer treatment. One concern expressed by people

about the Simonton mind-body approach, and other

therapy approaches such as Bernie Siegel‟s Exceptional

Cancer Patients (ECaP) that encourages patients to

participate in and influence their own recovery, is that it

gives people “false hope” about their recovery from

cancer. The Simonton‟s, however, assert that having a

positive way of viewing life gives not “false” hope but

reasonable hope.

“The question of „false hope‟ suggests that people

should never have hoped if there is a good

chance there will be disappointed. Such a belief

provides no basis for living a full life or for

dealing with a threat of life… People who are

concerned about “false hope” often see

themselves as realists, people who see life “as it

really is.” But a view of life that does not

include hope is not realism but pessimism. This

stance may avoid disappointment, but it does so

by actively shaping negative outcomes. Hope is

an important element in survival for the cancer

patient. Indeed, hopelessness and helplessness

are frequent precursors of cancer” (Simonton et

al., 1978, pp. 87-88).


9

The power to make ourselves well. Exceptional patients

have taught Dr. Siegel that nearly all diseases to some

degree originate in the conscious beliefs of the patient that

subsequently generate the emotional reactions and

influence the unconscious processes that seem to play

such a significant a role in the creation of physical health

or illness (a relationship he calls “soma-significant”).

Bernie Siegel finds this an empowering discovery. Most

people like to think that they are responsible for their

health, but not responsible for their illnesses. Or if they

see themselves as making themselves sick, then they

believe that only get well again by going to a doctor. If

we have the power to make ourselves sick through our

beliefs and expectations, emotions and imagery, then we

also have the power to make ourselves well through those

same processes.

“Illness… [is] not .thrust upon you, and this is

your freedom. Since you [do] this to your body,

you can stop doing it. Try to become more alert

to your own stream of consciousness. Notice

when you are giving yourself negative

suggestions….Negative habits of thought, and

withheld feelings and emotions [get] you into

[illness] and the same backwards, can get you

out” (Butts, 2002, pp. 405, 403).

Mind and disease: Jeanne Achterberg’s imagery

approach to healing. Jeanne Achterberg,

associate professor and director of research and

rehabilitation at the University of Texas Health

Science Center and former president of the

Association for Transpersonal Psychology, has

researched and practiced mind-body imagery in a

variety of health care settings for over 25 years

to successfully treat not only cancer, but also

chronic pain, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes,

severe orthopedic trauma, burn injury,

alcoholism, and stress-related disorders such as

migraine headaches and hypertension

(Achterberg & Lawlis, 1980; 1984). Her 1985

book Imagery in Healing describes research

demonstrating that mind-body imagery can be

used to control very specific physiological

processes, including the electrical activity of

neurons and even the number of particular types

of white blood cells in the body (e.g., neutrophils

or T-cells) that combat cancer.

Imagery and the neurophil. In one study conducted at

Michigan State University, eight male and eight female

healthy medical and psychology students who believed

they would be able to use their conscious mind to affect

their immune system were selected for six training

sessions in relaxation and creative visualization of the

shape, form and function on neutrophils as “garbage

collectors that picked up trash and dumped it outside the

body” (Achterberg, 1985, p.200). Total white blood cell

count for all 16 participants was subsequently shown to

decrease significantly from pretest to posttest sessions

(p<.0001) with practically the entire drop in blood cell

count attributable to a decrease in circulating neutrophils

alone; the count for all other white blood cells remained

the same. In a follow-up study, in which a different group

of participants were asked to imagine the neutrophils

remaining in the body, the average number of cells

staying the blood stream compared (58%) showed a

significant increase compared to the first experimental

group (28%). “Imagery appears to have a direct impact on

the function of the neutrophils, at least for those who

believe it will” (Achterberg, 1985, p. 201).

Imagery predicts status of disease. The connection

between mental imagery and disease state is so strong that

imagery assessment (e.g., “Describe how your cancer

cells look in your mind‟s eye” and “How do you imagine

your white blood cells fight disease?”) has successfully

been used to predict who will die of cancer and who will

go into remission. In a landmark collaborative study

conducted by Carl Simonton and his wife Stephanie

Matthews-Simonton and by Jeanne Achterberg and her

husband Frank Lawlis (Achterberg, 1985, pp. 183-192),

126 patients having Stage IV metastatic cancer completed

a battery of psychological tests, including imagery

assessment of patient‟s drawings of themselves, their

cancer, treatment, and immune system, scored along 14

dimensions on a 1-5 scale. Of all the factors founded to be

predictive of future events (including the psychological

factors of denial, locus of control, and negative self-

investment), imagery was most predictive of future health

status. Remarkably, “the total [imagery] scores were

found to predict with 100% certainty who would have

either died or shown evidence of significant deterioration

during the two-month period, and with 93% certainty who

would be in remission…What the patients‟ imaginations

predicted were the dramatic changes that would occur

within a short period of time” (Achterberg, 1985, p. 189)


10

Imagery as mental practice: Imagery and athletic

performance. Mental practice “refers to the symbolic

rehearsal of a physical activity in the absence of any gross

muscular movements” (Richardson, 1967, p. 95).

Numerous studies show that imagery in the form of

mental rehearsal, especially when used in combination

with other cognitive-behavioral techniques (e.g.,

relaxation, meditation, biofeedback, hypnosis, cognitive

restructuring, self-monitoring, and goal-setting) enhances

sports performance and helps athletes overcome self-

doubts, pain, and fear during anxiety-provoking

competitive situations (Druckman & Bjork, 1991, chapter

11).

In one experiment involving elite athletes, 48 Olympic

rifle shooters were randomly assigned to four groups:

Group I ( relaxation-imagery) listened to a

relaxation/imagery audiotape twice a day for 6 weeks;

Group II (meditation-imagery) listened to a

meditation/imagery audiotape twice a day for 6 weeks;

Group III (combined relaxation/imagery/meditation)

listened to the meditation/imagery audiotape for 3 weeks

and then the relaxation/imagery audiotape for 3 weeks;

Group IV (control) listened to a classical music audiotape.

Although Group I (relaxation-imagery) did not differ

from the control group, Group II and Group III differed

significantly from controls (p<.05) in reductions in self-

reported anxiety and better shooting performance

(Druckman & Bjork, 1991, p. 208). Similar physical

effects of mental rehearsal with athletes have been well

documented (Garfield, 1984).

Imagery and neuromuscular movements. Charles

Garfield in his 1984 book Peak Performance: Mental

Training Techniques of the World’s Greatest Athletes

interviewed hundreds of world-class athletes and reports

on the sophisticated imagery techniques elite athletes use

to improve their performance. Visual imagery, auditory

imagery, and kinesthetic imagery are used in combination

along with physical practice to enhance athletic

performance.

For instance, Marilyn King, two-time Olympic team

member as a Pentalthlete, suffered a severe back injury

that confined her to bed nine months before the 1980

Olympic trials. During her four months in bed, she did

nothing but watch films of the best performances of

athletes in the pentathlon, while employing visual,

auditory, and kinesthetic visualization to see, hear, and

feel herself going through the same events. From her

point of view, it was this use of imagery that helped her

achieve second place at the Olympic trials despite her

lack of physical preparation. Research studies back up her

claim: “For conditions under which physical practice may

be expensive, time consuming, fatiguing, or injurious,

combined mental and physical practice or mental practice

alone is clearly more effective than no practice at all”

(Druckman & Bjork, 1991, p. 205). Garfield suggests

that mental images appear to initiate subliminal

neuromuscular impulses which provide a subtle muscular

workout that improves coordination and peak

performance.

Role of images in setting and overcoming physical

limitations. The role of the imagination in setting and

overcoming limitations is dramatically illustrated in the

case of Roger Bannister who broke the four-minute mile

barrier.

“Roger Bannister who, in the face of absolute

„irrefutable‟ scientific evidence that the human

being could not run faster than four minutes in a

mile, had an image of being able to break the

four minute mile. This proved to have been a

psychological, not a physiological, block

because within the same year that Roger

Bannister broke the four minute mile barrier,

[John Landy did it five weeks later], 52 other

men broke the record too” (McNeill, 1991, p.

33).


11

Physical changes corresponding to a mental image.

Ian Stevenson, Professor of Psychiatry at the University

of Virginia (1997) recounts evocative clinical cases of

physical changes in the body corresponding to mental

images accompanying the revival of intense memories of

earlier trauma.

“In the 1950‟s, several examples of this

phenomenon were published. In one of the most

impressive, the subject relived (with the help of

ether) an occasion when, being in a hospital and

requiring restraint, his arms had been tied with w

rope. When the patient relived this experience,

deep curved depressions appeared on his lower

arms. They were exactly like those that occur on

the flesh of a person tied with ropes…. In

another published case a patient relieved a severe

caning inflicted on her by her sadistic father. He

had used a carved cane, and the unusual pattern

of the carving on the cane appeared on the skin

of the patient as she relived being beaten with

this cane” (p. 17).

“Images… are the language the body understands,

particularly with regards to the autonomic or involuntary

nervous system” (Achterberg, 1985, p. 99).

Biofeedback

Instrumented biofeedback. The most thoroughly

documented and studied behavioral technique designed to

teach the imagination how to communicate to the

autonomic or involuntary nervous system via imagery is

biofeedback (Green & Green, 1977; Murphy, 1992, chap.

16; Olton & Noonberg, 1980). In traditional forms of

instrumented biofeedback, information obtained from

electronic instruments (e.g., temperature sensors attached

to the skin, electrodes attached to the back of the scalp,

monitors of the electrical conductance of the skin) is

presented to subjects in the form of an auditory tone that

varies in pitch or a visual display that varies in brightness

as the biological process being monitored increases or

decreases in functioning.

Autonomic or involuntary processes brought under

conscious control. Biofeedback research has

demonstrated that a broad range of internal biological

processes once believed to be beyond voluntary control

(e.g. heart rate, blood flow, muscle firing, skin

temperature brain wave activity) can in fact be brought

under conscious control by human and nonhuman animals

once the level and minute changes in the ongoing activity

of these processes is known and provided as “feedback”

to the organism (Miller et al., 1974). Figure 2-3 identifies

the variety of bodily functions that can be modulated by

feedback.

Figure 2-3

Mind Modulation of Autonomic Nervous System

Functioning via Feedback

Any biological process is potentially controllable via

biofeedback. According to clinical psychologist Alyce

Green and biopsychologist Elmer Green (1977), pioneer

biofeedback researchers at the Menninger Foundation, “It

may be possible to bring under some degree of voluntary

control any physiological process that can continuously

be monitored, amplified, and displayed” (pp. 42-42). “To

date, there is evidence that every physical function that

can be measured in this way can be controlled and

regulated to some extent” (Achterberg, 1985, p. 99).

Noninstrumented biofeedback possible. Michael

Murphy, in his 1992 book, Future of the Body:

Explorations into the Further Evolution of Human Nature

notes that once a particular biofeedback for producing

specific physiological states is thoroughly learned and

mastered, then mechanical devices can be dispensed with.

Numerous studies have shown that self-regulation

skills acquired through biofeedback training can

be dispensed with. By 1990, for example, more

than 2,000 subjects at the Menninger Foundation

had learned to modify various bodily processes

through a combination of feedback, Autogenic

Training, and visualization so that their new

self-control did not depend upon machines” (p.

350).


12

Figure 2-3 Mind Modulation of Autonomic Nervous Functioning via Biofeedback (Miller et al., 1974; Murphy, 1992, chap. 16).

Voluntary Control of Muscle Activity

o Conscious control of firing frequency and rhythms of single motor unit (SMU) potentials at many

muscle sites

Voluntary Control of Gross Muscle Activity

o Conditions that have been cured or relieved through biofeedback include:

Temporomandibular joint dysfunction (involving symptoms of pain in jaw and face, teeth

grinding during sleep, ringing in ears, swallowing difficulty, fatigue)

Orofacial dyskinesia (symptoms of uncoordinated movements of face, jaw, tongue, neck).

Tension headache (through relaxation of the frontalis muscle).

Torticollis (symptoms of muscular contraction in which the head is twisted to one side).

Cerebral palsy symptoms

Compulsive subvocalization.

Esophageal dysfunction.

Excessive nasality.

Involuntary spasms of the eyelids.

Inability to open eyes following psychological trauma.

Muscular paralysis by cerebrovascular accidents.

Difficulty playing musical instruments.

Voluntary Control of the Brain’s Electrical Activity

o Alpha-wave training (8-12 cycles per second) associated with mystical experiences, sensory

deprivation, and states of sustained alertness.

o Theta-wave training (4-7 cycles per second) ordinarily abundant during drowsiness and sleep,

associated with daydreaming, imagery, and creative visualization.

o Beta-wave training (40 cycles per seconds) associated with focused arousal accompanying learning

processes

o Brain-wave asymmetry training permits people to produce different amounts of alpha in each brain

hemisphere simultaneously. “Researchers [have] demonstrated that alpha activity could be

controlled in one hemisphere alone; that a 14-year-old boy could increase alpha in his left

hemisphere while increasing beta or theta responses in his right; that male and female subjects could

suppress alpha in both hemispheres or suppress it in one while enhancing it in the other; and that

certain subjects could increase alpha at one site while decreasing it at another in the same

hemisphere” (Murphy, 1992, p. 360)

Voluntary Control of Other Bodily Functions

o Heart rate. (“Heart malfunctioning has also been modified – and sometimes eliminated – through

biofeedback training. Sinus tachycardias, Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, and fixed atrial

fibrillation have been controlled by patients given beat-to-beat feedback during laboratory sessions

and at home; and patients with premature ventricular contractions have learned to reduce the

prevalence of their dysfunctional beat” (Murphy, 1992, p. 360).

o Blood pressure (e.g., modification of systolic and diastolic pressures)

o Electrodermal activity (reflecting stress and anxiety) can be increased or decreased.

o Peripheral temperature and circulation (i.e., changes in hand temperature and peripheral blood flow

shown to facilitate relaxation and relieves of migraine headaches, Raynaud‟s syndrome).

o Gastrointestinal functioning. (“Patients with reflux esophagitis have learned to increase their lower

esophageal spincter contraction, for example, thus providing a barrier against reflux. People with

fecal incontinence resulting from neuromuscular impairment have learned to control their anal

spincter. And patients suffering from stomach acidity, ulcers, or irritable bowels have learned to

suppress their abnormal smooth-muscle responses and acid secretions” (Murphy, 1992, p. 362)


13

What is truly amazing is the degree of specificity of self-

regulation that can be developed and achieved following

training in biofeedback procedures, and the ability to

maintain such control without feedback.

Characteristics of people who respond to biofeedback. Jeanne Achterberg in her 1985 book Imagery in Healing

notes that “not everyone responds well to biofeedback

therapy…The best success rates across all diagnoses

average around 60 percent” (p. 100). The successful

individual needs to be motivated to learn the technique,

willing to spend time practicing it, believe that it will

work, and trust the trainer. Beyond these issues of

motivation,

“The basis for individual differences in learning

biofeedback… [appears] to be the ability to use

the imagination. Those individuals who were

unable to fantasize, who seldom remembered

their dreams, and who were not regarded as

particularly creative, had the most difficulty in

learning the biofeedback response” (Achterberg,

1985, p. 101).

Imagery ability is a normally distributed trait. Michael

Murphy in his 1992 book The Future of the Body suggests

that the ability to learn to consciously regulate bodily

processes like any other trait is normally distributed

across the population with a majority of people able to use

their imaginations in this way. “The widespread success

of biofeedback training has shown that most, if not all

people [with sufficient practice, motivation, and self-

awareness to achieve mastery] can improve their powers

of self-regulation” (Murphy, 1992, p. 350)

Cognitive and somatic processes not completely

understood. The cognitive and somatic processes that

must occur between the mental images in a person‟s mind

and the change in the number of white blood cells, heart

rate, blood flow, muscle firing, skin temperature, and

brain wave activity in a person‟s body to make imagery

and biofeedback control possible are not completely

understood. As Jeanne Achterberg put the matter in

regards to the clinical aspects of biofeedback, “The

person learns to do „something‟ with his mind that allows

conscious communication with the body. This

„something‟ does not relate to words, but to images

engaging various sensory and motor systems”

(Achterberg, 1985, p. 99).

Extrasomatic sensitivity a transpersonal attribute. The effects that compelling mental images may have on

local bodily functions provides another kind of evidence

of the transpersonal nature of the physical body. Somatic

awareness and self-regulation mediated by visual imagery

hints at further capacities for inner perception historically

attributed only to practitioners of Hindu, Buddhist, and

Taoist yoga. Enhanced kinesthetic awareness mediated by

visual imagery or immediate feedback of the body‟s

processes – when it is freed from the limitations and

distortions of prior cultural training and neurological

conditioning, and made accessible to conscious control –

points to the extraordinary, metanormal capacity for the

perception of somatic events that does not depend upon

bodily organs. This extrasomatic awareness has been

reported to be acquired by certain specific yogic practices

(Aranya, 1977) and consists in an awareness of cells,

molecules, and even atomic events within the body.

The next source of evidence for the transpersonal nature

of the physical body – its ability to change

“unchangeable” bodily structures and functions by

carefully chosen words and communications

(suggestions) – examines phenomena in which beliefs

about the body become expressed in changes in bodily

functions.

Hypnosis

Hypnosis defined. Hypnosis or “trance,” as the term is

used here, refers to a quite normal state of consciousness

in which an individual narrows the focus of his or her

awareness and concentrates attention upon a particular

idea, area of thought, or belief, to the exclusion of others.

From one transpersonal perspective,

Quite without any inductions, you have

„hypnotized‟ yourself into all the beliefs that you

have. This simply means that you have

consciously accepted them, focused upon them,

excluded data to the contrary, narrowed your

interests to those specific points, and accordingly

activated the unconscious mechanisms that then

materialize those convictions through physical

experience… It is a quite conscious performance.

As such it also portrays the importance of belief,

for using hypnosis you „force-feed‟ a belief to

yourself, or one given to you by another – a

„hypnotist‟; but you concentrate all of your

attention upon the idea presented” (Roberts,

1974, pp. 356, 77).


14

There is nothing magical about hypnosis. There is

nothing “magical” about hypnosis, therefore. It is a

natural function of the conscious mind that everyone

utilizes constantly. It seems strange and esoteric only

when it is set aside from ordinary life and special

procedures are assigned to it.

“Hypnosis clearly shows in concentrated form the

way in which your beliefs affect your behavior in

normal life. The various methods simply focus

all of your attention upon a specific area,

shutting out any distractions… Structured

hypnosis merely allows the subject to utilize full

powers of concentration; thereby activating

unconscious mechanisms…The one prerequisite

is an intense concentration upon specific

incoming data to the exclusion of everything

else… Any good demonstration of hypnosis will

clearly show…that beliefs dictate your

experience…In certain terms, hypnosis is simply

an exercise in the alteration of beliefs, and only

too clearly shows that sense experience follows

expectations… Formal hypnosis merely brings

about an accelerated version of what goes on all

the time” (Roberts, 1974, pp. 320, 353-356).

Figure 2-4 illustrates the variety of “unchangeable”

bodily structures and functions that have been altered as a

result of individuals willingly suspending certain beliefs

and allowing themselves to accept others for a moment

that result from the activity of the conscious mind being

focused, intensified, narrowed to a specific area, and all

other stimuli are cut out, allowing the hypnotist‟s ideas to

go directly to the unconscious, where they are acted on.

Figure 2-4

Mind Modulation of the Autonomic Nervous System,

Endocrine System and Immune System by Hypnosis.

What built-in capacities underlie hypnotic

phenomena?

Obviously, the alterations in physiological processes that

are observed in hypnosis could not happen if our physical

body did not have built-in capacities allowing them to

occur. Many possible ways and means have been

proposed by which hypnosis accomplishes observed

somatic alterations, including factors relating to unique

personality characteristics of highly hypnotizable subject

and the “special” nature of hypnosis and the hypnotic

setting; physiological explanations pertaining to alteration

of blood flow, limbic-hypothalamic system activity, and

electrical voltage change; and more psychically-oriented

interpretations, such a that involving “temporal reversal”.

Personality characteristics associated with

hypnotizability. Looking to individual differences in

personality characteristics associated with “hypnotic

susceptibility” for an explanation of the physiological

alterations observed in hypnosis has not been a

particularly fruitful avenue of research. It is known that

individuals who score high on standardized scales of

hypnotic susceptibility are most like to exhibit the

capacity to influence autonomic, endocrine, and immune

system functioning following a formal hypnotic induction

procedure. The search for personality characteristics that

are strongly associated with hypnotic susceptibility,

however, has been disappointing.

Ernest Hilgard (1965/1968), in a review of personality

characteristics associated with hypnotizability, reports

that hypnotic susceptibility does not correlate highly or

consistently with any global test of personality, such as

anxiety, social desirability, conformity, social

influencibility, or attention. “The qualities that predict

hypnotic susceptibility are elusive” (Hilgard, 1965/1968,

p. 269). He does, however, offer the following tentative

personality description of the hypnotizable person, based

on available evidence, as

“one who has rich subjective experiences in

which he can become deeply involved; one who

reaches out for new experiences and is thus

friendly to hypnosis; one who accepts impulses

from within and is not afraid to relinquish reality

testing for a time….These free, irrational, reality-

distorting characteristics may be found in

flexible combination with realistic academic and

social adjustment” (p. 268).

“Special” nature of hypnosis and hypnotic setting. In

their summary of published research concerning hypnotic

influences on bodily processes, hypnosis researchers

Theordore Sarbin and Robert Slagle in their 1979 article

“Hypnosis and Psychophysiological Outcomes” conclude

that the altered physiological processes observed

following a traditional hypnotic induction are not unique

to use of formal hypnotic induction procedures or to the

peculiarity of the hypnotic context established in

laboratory and clinical settings but can able to be

produced by a wide range of “stimulating conditions

including symbolic stimuli and imagining” (Sarbin &

Slage, 1979, pp. 299-300).


15

Figure 2-4. Mind Modulation of the Autonomic Nervous System,

Endocrine System, and Immune System by Hypnosis

(Barber, 1984, chapter 4; Rossi & Cheek, 1988, chaps. 4 and 9; Sarbin & Slagle, 1979, chap. 9; Rossi, 1986, p. 110;

Murphy, 1992, pp. 325-339)

“Glove and stocking” anesthesia

Modification of respiration rate, blood pressure, pulse rate.

Starting and stopping of bleeding (vasoconstriction/vasodilation)

Control of frigidity, impotence, sexual excitement, menstrual periodicity, urine excretion.

Pain relief (childbirth, menstrual cramps, burns, various surgery,

Ameliorating hypertension and cardiac problems

Ameliorating Raynaud‟s disease

Enlargement and apparent growth of breasts in women

Amelioration of bruises

Recovery of memories of previous trauma may be accompanied by the reappearance of wounds

resembling those received during the original trauma

Control of diabetes and blood glucose levels

Immune response facilitation in peritonotis

Cure of asthma and other respiratory ailments

Modulation of hunger contractions, gastric acid secretions, sensations of digestion and constipation

Alterations of allergic responses (hay fever, tuberculin injections, pollen).

Modification of basal metabolic rate, calcium metabolism, plasma cortisol, oral temperature, surface

body temperature, electrodermal activity (GSR)

Alterations in evoked response potentials (ERP), EEG activity,

Induction of blisters, inflammation and wheals on the skin

Minimizing and healing of burns

Producing and curing diverse forms of contact dermatitis (e.g., poison ivy, herpes simplex,

psoriasis)

Dermal secretions

Removal of warts

Healing of congenital ichthyosiform erythrodermia (“fish-skin disease”)

Relief of musculoskeletal disorders (sprained backs, degenerative vertebral conditions, rheumatoid

arthritis, bone fractures, bursitis, pulled muscles, muscle spasms)

Controlling of blushing and whitening of the skin

Aiding coagulation of blood in hemophiliacs

Ameliorating the alarm (fight-flight) response

Perceptual alterations (induced blindness, color-blindness, improved vision, hallucinations)

Cognitive alterations (improved concentration, study habits, retention,, state-dependent

enhancement of memory)

Improvements in physical performance (strength, motor skills)

Paranormal experience (ESP)

Quasi-mystical states


16

Are observed alterations in physiological

processes specific to the hypnotic “trance”? The

answer is an unqualified no. …Can symbolic

processes produce changes in biological

processes? The answer is an unqualified yes.

That somatic processes can be influenced by

symbolic stimuli is an observation that goes back

at least to Aristotle. The reviews of Dunbar

(1954) and the reports to be found in

Psychosomatic Medicine make clear that the

introduction of a large variety of stimulating

conditions including symbolic stimuli and

imaginings, can influence life processes (Sarbin

& Slagle, 1979, pp. 299-300)

Alteration of blood flow. Ernest Rossi Ernest Rossi, who

has written several books on therapeutic hypnosis with

Milton H. Erickson and David Cheek, in his 1986 book,

The Psychobiology of Mind-Body Healing: New Concepts

of Therapeutic Hypnosis observes that “the phenomenon

of focused attention, imagery, biofeedback, and

therapeutic hypnosis all operate by altering the direction

of blood flow. Altering blood flow…is one of the basic,

common factors in resolution of most, if not all, mind-

body problems” (Rossi, 1986, p. 109).

Limbic-hypothalamic system activity Ernest Rossi

identifies some of the general autonomic, endocrine,

immune, and neuropeptide channels and receivers by

which trance-state-dependent suggestions likely initiate

and direct mind-body communication. He points to these

pathways and receptors as likely candidates for explaining

the mind‟s ability to select and influence the precise

processes by which it brings quite local effects on specific

body functions.

Electrical voltage change. Blair Justice, in her 1987

book Who Gets Sick: How Beliefs, Moods, and Thoughts

Affect Your Health suggests that hypnosis may work by

producing changes in the electrical voltage that alter the

chemical and cellular processes at the target areas of the

body (Justice, 1987, p. 317).

Temporal reversal. Seth-Jane Roberts offers the

following provocative psychic explanation from his

unique transpersonal point of view:

“You must understand that basically time is

simultaneous. Present beliefs can indeed alter the

past…A new belief in the present…can cause

changes in the past on a neuronal level. In some

cases of healing, in the spontaneous

disappearance of cancer, for instance, or of any

other disease, certain alterations are made that

affect cellular memory, genetic codes, or

neuronal patterns in the past. In such instances

there is, as easily as I can explain it, a reaching

into deep biological structures as they existed at

one time; at that point the probabilities are

altered, and the condition erased in the present –

but also in your past. A sudden or intense belief

in health can indeed “reverse” a disease, but in a

very practical way it is a reversal in terms of

time. New memories are inserted in place of the

old ones, as far as cells are concerned under such

conditions. This kind of therapy happens quite

frequently on a spontaneous basis when people

rid themselves of diseases they do not even know

they possess” (Roberts, 1974, pp. 325-326).

Unquestioned answers and unanswered questions. How the mind is able to concisely isolate the right part of

the body and select and influence precisely the right

antibody, hormone, nerve-cell activity, enzyme,

neurotransmitter, cellular processes, and so forth in order

to carry out a verbal suggestion during hypnosis to

remove, say, some intractable disease from the skin one

area at a time remains a mystery. That it can do so in

some people under certain circumstances through the use

of mental imagery or carefully chosen words and

communications (suggestions) in a predictable,

measurable, and reproducible way is a fact to which

greater cognizance needs to be given by mainstream

psychology.

Glove and stocking anesthesia, blisters, and warts. There remain many curious hypnotic phenomena that as

yet have no satisfying explanation. “Glove and stocking”

anesthesia and the formation of blisters, for example, are

demarcated to areas of the body that “do not correspond

to known configurations of nerves or blood vessels of the

skin” (Stevenson, 1997, p. 19).

Suggestions received in a trance state can also cure a wart

that is caused by a virus. This implies that suggestions in

a trance state may also be used to affect the prognosis of

AIDS which is also caused by a virus (a retrovirus that

makes its way into the DNA of a cell to change its

programming). Beliefs and expectations, emotions and

feelings apparently are also a part of the interior

environment of the cell, the chromosomes, and the genes.


17

There is also the example of the intractable skin disease

known as fish-skin disease that was removed from one

area of the body at a time as hypnotic instructions were

given over time – as if the mind somehow knew how to

target precisely the right portion of the body needed to

carry out the suggestions offered.

The case of fishskin boy. Our genes are believed to be

permanent, irrevocable blueprints for bodily processes

that are not susceptible in any way to manipulation or

control by either thought or emotion. However, hypnosis

has been documented to cure a genetic condition known

as “congenital ichthyosis” or more generally, Brocq‟s

disease, where the outer layer of skin forms a thick,

hardened, cracked, scaly surface that resembles the skin

of a fish or reptile such as an alligator (Mason, 1952).

Despite the fact that it is a genetic disease for which there

is no known medical or surgical treatment, the highly

hypnotizable patient succeeded in healing the disease

gradually at one portion of the body at a time until all of

the scaly skin was gone. Permanent improvement of the

skin was observed for 60-70% of the body over a period

of 4 years.

Hypnotizability and gene expression. Physician Larry

Dossey (1991) makes two key observations about this

case. One is that an important ingredient in the sixteen-

year-old English boy‟s cure was the fact that he was

highly hypnotizable. Hypnotic suggestions for the cure of

asthma, removal of migraine headache symptoms, and

increased lymphocyte functioning, for instance, have been

found to be most effective in individuals who are capable

of medium to deep levels of hypnosis as measured by

standard hypnotizability scales such as the Stanford

Hypnotizability Scale (Collison, 1975; Hall, 1982-1983).

A second key observation is that “people suffering from

genetic diseases need not change the genes themselves,

only their manifestations” (Dossey, 1991, p. 154).

Although hypnosis may not have changed the genes

themselves, it definitely did change their physical

expression. In any case, genetically-related diseases

apparently are capable of responding to hypnosis.

Thoughts and emotions comprise a part of the gene’s

environment. From the transpersonal perspective of

Seth-Jane Roberts an alternative framework for

understanding of the nature of genetic event is proposed:

“The genetic system is not closed…. The genes do

not simply hold information without any

reference to the body‟s living system. It does not

exist, then – the genetic structure – like some

highly complicated mechanism already

programmed, started and functioning „blindly,‟

so that once it is set into operation there is no

chance for modification. …There is a great give-

and-take between human genetic systems, the

environment, and cultural events…Genetic

events are not irrefutable in a deterministic

fashion. They represent strong inclinations

toward certain bodily or mental activity, certain

biological preferences…so that the probabilities

are “loaded” in certain directions…. Chromo-

somal messages are not written within the

chromosomes as words might be written upon

paper, but the information and the chromo-

somes are a living unit. The information is

alive… The cells with their genetic packages,

like all cells are alive; they react to stimuli. They

act (Roberts, 1986b, pp. 314-315)… The inform-

ation is knit into the genes and chromosome, but

it exists apart, and the physical structures merely

represent the carriers of information” (Roberts,

1977, p. 190).


18

The nature of genetic events. Scientists do not know

the unknown pathways that the mind of a patient takes to

transduce the simple words spoken by another human

being (the hypnotist) into a meaning and intention that

causes physical changes in the expression of one‟s genetic

make-up or in DNA programming. More than controlling

autonomic nervous system functioning through

biofeedback or the blood flow patterns to various cells of

the immune system through imagery, here we have

evidence of a thought tapping into the nucleus of a cell

and the 46 chromosomes and the estimated 100, 000

genes in each cell that provide the blueprint for the

synthesis of some 50,000 proteins. We now know that so-

called “programmed” genetic activity can be altered or

changed not only by conditions in the environment (e.g.,

nuclear accidents) but also by a thought. We may not

know how it occurs; the fact remains that it can and does

occur. It would be a grave scientific error to ignore,

overlook, or deny this fact, simply because science cannot

explain it at this time.

Wherever the explanations that may be found to explain

how beliefs about the body become expressed in changes

in bodily functions, so-called hypnotic phenomena have

important implications for revisioning the mind-body

problem from a transpersonal perspective. In the

concluding comment of T. X. Barber‟s (1984) article

titled: “Changing „Unchangeable‟ Bodily Processes by

(Hypnotic) Suggestions”, the author summarizes the

implications of his review of the empirical research on the

effects believed-in suggestions have on physiological

functioning of the body:

“The data presented… should, once and for all,

topple the dualistic dichotomy between mind and

body which has strongly dominated Western

thought since Descartes. The meanings or ideas

embedded in words which are spoken by one

person and deeply accepted by another can be

communicated to the cells of the body (and to the

chemicals within the cells); the cells then can

change their activities in order to conform to the

meanings or ideas which have been transmitted

to them” (Barber, 1984, pp. 115-116)

Cultural Beliefs and Personal Attitudes

Beliefs we embody through cultural training and

social conditioning. The placebo response, imagery,

biofeedback and hypnosis conclusively demonstrate that

belief and expectation, purpose and intent have the power

to change the functioning of the physical body, and that,

to use the words of Norman Cousins, “belief becomes

biology” (quoted in Dossey, 1991, p. 56). In order to more

fully understand the power of the subconscious mind to

affect the health of the physical body, we must also

consider the greater social and cultural context or what

transpersonal psychologist Charles Tart referred to as the

“consensus trace” in which personal experience of health

and illness occur (Tart, 1986). Mind modulation of the

autonomic nervous system, endocrine system, and

immune system by the individual person that occurs

through the agency of the placebo response, imagery,

biofeedback, hypnosis (and later, as we shall see the

phenomena of multiple personality disorder, spontaneous

remission, miraculous cure, intercessory prayer, and

charismatic phenomena) “happens in the context of his [or

her] psychological and biological status, and basically

cannot be separated from his religious and philosophical

beliefs and sentiments, and his cultural environment and

political framework” (Roberts, 1981, p. 19) that

contributes to the cultural training and social conditioning

that en-trances us all (Tart, 1986).

Experience of pain has substantial cultural

component. An individual‟s experience of pain, for

instance, has a substantial cultural component, such that

members of certain cultures report pain sooner and react

more intensely to it than individuals from other cultures

(Zborowski, 1958). Studies have shown that the attitude

of an expectant mother during childbirth strongly

influences the pain that she will experience while giving

birth and that these attitudes vary from culture to culture

(Jordon, 1983). Mexican women expect pain during

childbirth and this translates into more painful

experiences and more complications, than women in the

South Pacific island of Yap who treat childbirth as an

everyday occurrence and thus experience far fewer

complications during delivery. “Expectations do play an

important role in how labor is experienced. Cultural lore

and customs are a significant source of these

expectations” (Taylor, 2003, p. 321).


19

Voodoo Death. Beliefs that are imposed upon us by our

society influence our health and illness. Walter Cannon,

the physiologist who first described the “fight-or-flight”

concept in which the body activates two neuroendocrine

systems (sympathetic and adrenal-cortical) to attack or

flee from a threatening situation, conducted a classic

study of what has come to be called “voodoo death”

(Cannon, 1942). The following case is suggestive.

“A young Negro on a journey lodged in a friend‟s

house for the night. The friend had prepared for

their breakfast a wild hen, a food strictly banned

by a rule which must be inviolably observed….

The young fellow demanded whether it was

indeed a wild hen and when the host answered

„no,‟ he ate it heartily and proceeded on his way.

A few years later when the two met again, the

old man asked the younger if he would eat a wild

hen. He answered that he had been solemnly

charged by a wizard not to eat that food.

Thereupon the host began to laugh and asked

him why he refused it now after having eaten it

as his table before. On hearing this news the

Negro immediately began to tremble, so greatly

was he possessed by fear, and in less than 24

hours he was dead” (Cannon, 1942, quoted in

Dossey, 1991, p. 57).

Voodoo death illustrates how cultural and social beliefs

play an important role in shaping how an individual

interprets an event. The event itself may be trivial, yet

the significance and meaning that the event holds for the

individual is strongly influenced by the customs and

beliefs of the society in which the person lives.

The Western Creed. Social and cultural beliefs imposed

on us by our society have important consequence for

individual health.

“Worry, fear and doubt are detrimental to good

health…and these are very often caused by the

officially held beliefs of society. Those beliefs

paint a dire picture, in which any given situation

is bound to deteriorate. Any conceivable illness

will worsen, and any possible catastrophe be

encountered. Such beliefs discourage feelings of

curiosity, joy, or wonder. They inhibit playful

activity or spontaneous behavior. They cause a

physical situation in which the body is placed in

a state of defensive aggression. Under s7ch

conditions it seems only rational to look for the

worm in the apple, so to speak, and to expect

pain or danger in each new experience or

encounter” (Roberts, 1997, p. 172).

Figure 2-5 presents the worldview called “The Western

Creed” that characterizes the collective secular worldview

of orthodox, Western psychology, according to

transpersonal psychologist Charles Tart (1997) It

expresses ideas that are prominent in Western society,

that are automatically accepted as “facts” by many people

in our culture, and that undermine an individual‟s sense

of safety, vitality, and exuberance, and one‟s sense of

well-being and self-confidence, and feelings of freedom

(see Tart, 1975/1992, chap. 2).

Figure 2-5

The Western Creed

It is easy to see how this cumbersome set of beliefs may

severely impede mental and physical well-being. Charles

Tart proposes the following “belief experiment” to help

people become more aware of the degree to which the

beliefs conveyed in the Western Creed have become such

an implicit part of everyday life:

“[People] are asked to deliberately give as much

energy and belief as possible, „play the game,‟ to

entertain a particular set of beliefs for about 15

minutes. While doing so, they are to observe the

emotional feelings generated. They are asked to

wait to intellectually analyze the exercise until it

is over. Afterwards they can go back to their

usual beliefs and evaluate what they‟ve learned

from the experiment. To increase the emotional

impact of the experiment…I have my students

stand at attention in neat, orderly rows, with their

right hands over their hearts, the way we learned

to pledge allegiance to the American flag in

school. In unison we then recite aloud the

Western Creed…The full-scale exercise usually

generates strong emotions that I have people

work out afterwards” (Tart, 1997, pp. 40-41).

Tart believes that it is very important that the ideas

expressed in the Western Creed be recognized when they

appear, since that recognition alone can clear one‟s

thoughts and mind. Once we become aware of how

deeply these beliefs have become conditioned within our

psyches and recognize how frequently these beliefs are

constantly being repeated and reinforced in contemporary

culture by modern science and through the indoctrination

of our educational system, we can better understand how

mass meditations upon these so-called “facts” can impede

mental and physical well-being.


20

Figure 2-5. The Western Creed

Tart (1997, pp. 41-42; see also Tart, 1975/1992, chapter 2)

I BELIEVE… in the material universe… as the only and ultimate reality… a

universe controlled by fixed physical laws… and blind chance.

I AFFIRM… that the universe has no Creator…no objective purpose…and no

objective meaning or destiny.

I MAINTAIN… that all ideas about God or gods… enlightened beings…

prophets and saviors… or other nonphysical beings or forces… are

superstitions and delusions…. Life and consciousness are totally identical to

physical processes… and arose from chance interactions of blind physical

forces…. Like the rest of life… my life… and my consciousness… have no

objective purpose…meaning.

I BELIEVE… that all judgments, values, and moralities… whether my own or

others… are subjective… arising solely from biological determinants…

personal history… and chance….

Free will is an illusion…. Therefore, the most rational values I can personally

live by must be based on the knowledge that for me …what pleases me is

Good… what pains me is Bad…. Those who please me or help me avoid pain

are my friends… those who pain me or keep me from my pleasure are my

enemies…. Rationality requires that friends and enemies be used in ways that

maximize my pleasure and minimize my pain….

I AFFIRM… that churches have no real use other than social support… that

there is no objective sins to commit or be forgiven for… that there is no

retribution for sin or reward for virtue… although there may be social

consequences of action…. Virtue for me is getting what I want… without

being caught and punished by others.…

I MAINTAIN… that the death of the body is the death of the mind…. There is

no afterlife… and all hope of such is nonsense.


21

Cultural beliefs as “carriers” of disease. The

psychological and spiritual ramifications of cultural belief

systems such as embodied in the Western Creed are

clearly point out from the transpersonal perspective of

Seth-Jane Roberts (1981).

“The majority of accepted beliefs – religious,

scientific, and cultural – have tended to stress a

sense of powerlessness, impotence, and

impending doom – a picture in which man and

his world is an accidental production with little

meaning, isolated yet seemingly ruled by a

capricious God. Life is seen as a “valley of tears”

almost as a low-grade infection from which the

soul can be cured only by death. Religious,

scientific, medical, and cultural communications

stress the existence of danger, minimize the

purpose of the species or of any individual

member of it, or see mankind as the one erratic,

half-insane member of an otherwise orderly

realm of nature. Any or all of the above beliefs

are held by various systems of thought. All of

these, however, strain the individual‟s biological

sense of integrity, reinforce ideas of danger, and

shrink the area of psychological safety that is

necessary to maintain the quality possible in life.

The body‟s defense systems become confused to

varying degrees….The body‟s defenses will take

care of themselves if they are allowed to, and if

the psychological air is cleared of the true

“carriers” of disease” (Roberts, 1981, pp. 54-55).

Black Monday syndrome. The cultural beliefs that we

accept from our society manifest themselves in our lives

through our private attitudes. For instance, studies have

shown that our individual attitudes toward life (as

reflected in our satisfaction with our jobs, for example)

affect a range of medical conditions. There is a

phenomenon called “Black Monday Syndrome,” for

instance, in which statistics indicate that more fatal heart

attacks and strokes in males cluster around 8:00-9:00

o‟clock on Monday morning than at any other time or day

of the week – precisely when people are returning to their

jobs and work situations (Rabkin, Mathewson, & Tate,

1980). Most people in the United States who have their

first heart attack below the age of 50 have none of the

major physicals risk factors for heart disease (smoking,

high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, sedentary

lifestyle, obesity, diabetes) (Jenkins, 1971). “Something

else” is obviously operating other than physical risk

factors alone in causing coronary heart disease. This

“something else” are the unfortunate beliefs prominent in

our society that darken our sense of joy and positive

expectation..

“One of the greatest detriments to mental and

physical well-being is the unfortunate belief that

any unfavorable situation is bound to get worse

instead of better. That concept holds that any

illness will worsen, any war will lead to

destruction, and that any and all known dangers

will be encountered, and basically that the end

result of mankind‟s existence is extinction. All of

those beliefs impede mental and physical health,

erode the individual‟s sense of joy and natural

safety, and force the individual to feel like an

unfortunate victim of exterior events that seem to

happen despite his own will or intent” (Roberts,

1997, p. 20).

Sudden death syndrome. A sense of personal

helplessness, hopelessness and crushing despair as well as

intense emotions may be a sufficiently intense

psychological trigger to cause what is called the “giving

up-given up” or “emotional sudden death” syndrome that

can produce sudden and dramatic changes in person‟s

biological status. Physician George L. Engel (1971) of the

University of Rochester School of Medicine reported

numerous cases of how people suddenly died from

ventricular fibrillation

after the collapse or death of a close person,

during a period of acute grief (within 16 days),

following the threat of the loss of a close person,

during mourning or the anniversary of the death

of a close person,

after loss of status or self-esteem,

in response to personal danger or threat of injury

(whether real or symbolic), after danger is over,

and

during reunions, triumphs, and “happy endings.”

There is the dramatic example of the 27-year-old army

captain who had commanded the ceremonial troops at the

funeral of President Kennedy who was so emotionally

upset by the assassination that he died 10 days later of a

heart attack. A pair of Siamese twins who had been

inseparable for 39 years and who were successfully

separated died for no known cause within a week of each

other following the operation. Then there is the case of

the “64-year-old woman who had never recovered from

the death of her son in an auto accident 14 years earlier,

[who] died 4 days after her husband was murdered in a

holdup” (Engel, 1971, p. 774).


22

Meaning and health. Obviously not everyone who has a

stressful job to which they must return dies of a stroke on

Monday morning. Not everyone who experiences

profound feelings of lack of control and despair or intense

emotion dies of a heart attack. As health psychologist

Shelly Taylor (2003) reminds us, “Such incidents are

dramatic, but their etiology is virtually identical to that of

other stress-related illnesses. The process of disease

development simply occurs faster than is usually the case

in the stress-illness relationship” (p. 204). Holistic

physician Larry Dossey (1991) suggests that it is the

interpretation or meaning given to the event by the person

that is the operative independent variable. “It is not just

the presence of stress that matters in sudden death. Some

people, after all, thrive on stress. Something more is

involved…the interpretation of the event by the person.

This is how life meanings enter our body, for they are our

interpretations” (Dossey, 1991, p. 54). “Your body has an

overall body consciousness filled with energy and vitality.

It automatically rights any imbalances, but your conscious

beliefs also affect this body consciousness. Your [body]

believes what you tell [it] about [itself]. So does every

other portion of your physical body” (Roberts, 1974, pp.

103-104).

Attitudes affect biological status. Michael Talbot in his

1991 book The Holographic Universe provides a list of

research findings from the field of health psychology that

demonstrate that our private attitudes do indeed affect

our biological status.

“People who score high on tests designed to

measure hostility and aggression are seven times

more likely to die from hearty problems than

people who receive low scores. Married women

have stronger immune systems than separated or

divorces women, and happily married women

have even stronger immune systems. People with

AIDS who display a fighting spirit live longer

than AIDS-infected individuals who have a

passive attitude. People with cancer also live

longer if they maintain a fighting spirit.

Pessimists get more colds than optimists. Stress

lowers the immune response; people who have

just lost their spouses have an increased

incidence of illness and disease, and on and on”

(Talbot, 1991, p. 102).

The Act of Will

It is not just the beliefs that we passively accept from our

society and culture and our private attitudes that influence

bodily processes, but also the active power of personal

will. By utilizing the body‟s nerve structure through

certain intensities of will or conscious belief, the usual

physiological parameters of the body can be transcended.

Assagioli’s Psychosynthesis.Transpersonal psychiatrist

Roberto Assagioli recognized the enormous potential

inherent in the use of the will for achieving self-

actualization. According to Assagioli (1992/1973), the

transpersonal system of “psychosynthesis,” is “a process

of growth based on the harmonious integration of all

aspects of personality around the self, the center of

awareness and will” (p. vi). In this process, the

development and utilization of will is central – “its

training and use constitute the foundation of all

endeavors” (Assagioli, 1992/1973, p. 6).

The case of Jack Schwarz. One remarkable individual

who was able to effectively use his will to control his

body‟s internal biological processes was Dutch-born

“yogi” Jack Schwarz

“In studies conducted [in the 1970‟s] at the

Menninger Foundation and the University of

California‟s Langley Porter Neuropsychiatric

Institute, Schwartz astonished doctors by

sticking mammoth six-inch sailmaker‟s needles

completely through his arms without bleeding,

without flinching, and without producing beta

brain waves (the type of brain waves normally

produced when a person is in pain). Even when

the needles were removed, Schwarz still did not

bleed, and the puncture holes closed tightly. In

addition, Schwarz altered his brain-wave

rhythms at will, held burning cigarettes against

his flesh without harming himself, and even

carried live coals around in his hands” (Talbot,

1991, pp. 102-103; See also Raymond, 1978).

The case of Mirin Dajo. Another individual who

demonstrated similar voluntary control of his body under

conditions that would ordinarily produce excruciating

pain in others was Dutch-born Mirin Dajo whose abilities

were also subjected to scientific scrutiny. One particular

dramatic demonstration of Dajo‟s ability to willfully

control his body‟s internal bodily processes was

conducted on May 31, 1947 before an audience of

physicians, medical students, journalists, and others,

under the supervision of Dr. Werner Brunner, the chief of

surgery at the Zurich cantonal hospital.

“Dajo bared his chest and concentrated and then,

in full view of the assemblage, he had his

assistant plunge the [fencing] foil through his

body. As always, no blood flowed and Dajo

remained completely at ease… By all rights,

Dajo‟s vital organs should have been severely

damaged, and his seeming good health was

almost too much for the doctors to bear. Filled

with disbelief, they asked Dajo if he would

submit to an X ray. He agreed and without


23

apparent effort accompanied them up the stairs to

the X-ray room, the foil still through his

abdomen. The X ray was taken and the result

was undeniable. Dajo was indeed impaled.

Finally, a full twenty minutes after he had been

pierced, the foil was removed, leaving only two

faint scars. Later, Dajo was tested by scientists in

Basel, and even let the doctors themselves run

him through with the foil” (Talbot, 1991, pp.

103-104; see also Stelter, 1976)

Ceylon and Indian fakirs. National Geographic and

Scientific American have highlighted these seemingly

supernormal feats of self-control over bodily processes in

articles featuring the accounts of annual rituals in villages

in Ceylon and India where different individuals, chosen to

represent the power of the local gods every year, travel

from village to village blessing the crops and children

while holding onto ropes attached to steel hooks that have

been shoved under their skin and muscles on both sides of

the back. At times swinging freely while suspended by the

hooks embedded in his back, the “celebrant”

astonishingly shows no evidence of being in pain, and

afterwards when the hooks are removed, shows no sign

of blood and little sign of any puncture marks or wounds

in the skin, which heal rapidly without medical treatment

within a period of two weeks (Grosvenor, 1966; Kosambi,

1967; Melzack, 1973). “Clearly, pain is as much a matter

of mind as of sensory receptors” (Smith et al., 2003, p.

138).

Multiple Personality Disorder

The placebo response, imaginal healing, biofeedback,

hypnosis, cultural conditioning and personal attitudes, and

acts of will demonstrate that it is the beliefs of the

conscious mind (reinforced by imagination, emotion, and

sensory stimuli) that regulate the involuntary bodily

processes and the entire physical system. Beliefs

apparently have another reality beside the one with which

mainstream psychology is familiar.

The psychiatric disturbance called multiple personality

disorder (MPD) shows what occurs when the system of

beliefs related to self-image takes over the conscious

mind and is reflected in the physical body itself. MPD

represents another category of phenomena that raises

fundamental questions about the nature of the relationship

between mind and body and provides additional evidence

of the body‟s extraordinary transformative capacity to

extend and expand biological processes beyond their

usual physiological parameters and transcend ordinary

forms of biological functioning. MPD is another line of

evidence that supports the holistic view of the human

organism and that mind and body continually interact.

MPD dramatically demonstrates the innate mobility and

ever changing quality of the human psyche as expressed

in flesh and just how much psychological states can affect

the seemingly “permanent” and “stable” biology of the

body.

Figure 2-6 lists the kind of physiological changes

recorded in the literature that occur when multiples switch

personalities. [ For additional discussions of physiological

differences between alternate personalities, see Braun

1983a, 1983b; Coons, 1988; Greaves, 1980; Miller, 1989;

Putnam, 1984; Putnam et al., 1990). It is important to note

that the anomalous physiological phenomena observed in

MPD are not unprecedented. They were discovered and

reproduced by the pioneers of hypnosis at the turn of the

century (Beahrs, 1982; Braun, 1983b; Hilgard, 1986;

Kroger, 1979; Putnam, 1986b).

Figure 2-6

Evidence of Physiological Shifts in MPD

First person plural: Change your mind and you

change your body. In multiple personality disorder we

have evidence of mind (consciousness) creating different

manifestations of body (matter) quickly and at will, as

different ego states emerge, shift, and change. “The

physical constitution of the body follows your beliefs, and

so all of its sense data will faithfully follow the beliefs

that direct its activity” (Roberts, 1974, p. 320). As

noteworthy as the remarkable psychological differences

that occur between sub-personalities in name, age,

memories, handwriting, sex, cultural and racial

backgrounds, artistic talents, foreign language ability, and

IQ, are the biological changes that occur in the physical

body as a result of switching from one ego-state to

another different ego-state. According to Damgaard

(1987):

One of the hallmark research findings in MPD ego

state experiments is the discovery that different

states vary in regard to internal self perception

(physical appearance, age, voice quality, etc.) as

well as external physical characteristics, such as

visual acuity, EEG patterns, allergies, drug

sensitivity, skills, habits, vocabulary, taste

discrimination and performance on IQ and

projective tests (Greaves, 1980). In the same

physical body an adult ego state who smokes,

wears glasses, is right-handed, good at math,

allergic to sulfur, with a normal IQ can exist

alongside a child ego state who has never

smoked, has 20/20 vision, is left-handed, paints,

has no medication allergies, and scores in the

130‟s on the same test (p. 128).


24

Figure 2-6. Evidence of Extraordinary Psychophysical Plasticity in Multiples

Central Nervous System Changes

Brain Wave Activity. When people with MPD and a control group of individuals who were instructed to

rehearse imaginary alternate personalities are compared, there is much greater variation in the

electroencephalograms (EEGs) of multiples as they switch from one alternate personality to another than in

the EEGs of individuals who simulated the disorder (Putnam, 1984).

Regional Cerebral Blood-Flow. Changes in regional cerebral blood-flow are reported to occur as

multiples switches from one alternate personality to another, with different hemispheres being activated

with different alternate personalities (Prigogine, 1991)

Pain Sensitivity. There are many reports of individuals with MPD with alternate personalities are

anesthetic (i.e., do not feel pain at all) or whose “job” is to “take the pain” (O‟Regan & Hurley, 1985).

“When in pain, A can switch to an anesthetic personality. Or, personalities can keep passing the pain to

each other in turn, switching when the persistent pain becomes intolerable” (Braude, 1995, p. 45)

Handedness. Some multiples switch handedness as they switch ego-states (O‟Regan & Hurley, 1985)

Galvanic Skin Response. Marked fluctuations of electrodermal response in the hands of alternate

personalities have been reported that mark the transition from one personality to another (Brende, 1984).

Anesthetics. “In the classic case of Miss Beauchamps (M. Prince, 1905/1978), personalities B1 and B4

could be rendered unconscious with chloroform, while at the same time Sally would remain unaffected”

(Braude, 1995, p. 49).

Anatomical Changes

Optical Changes. “Psychologist Scott Miller, at the University of Utah, had an ophthalmologist give

standard optical tests to ten multiples in different ego-states, and found that they experienced significant

changes in visual acuity, in the shape and curvature of their eyes, and in their optical refraction. One

woman with personalities aged 5, 17, and 35 had a childhood condition called “lazy eye” only in her 5-

year-old state, while a male patient who had suffered an injury that made his left eye turn out exhibited the

condition in just one of his personalities….Multiples often have different eyeglasses for their different

selves” (Miller, 1989, quoted in Murphy, 1992, p. 243).

Immune System Changes

Allergic Reactions. There are cases on record of individuals being allergic to fruits (e.g., citrus), animals

(e.g., cats), environmental agents (e.g., cigarette smoking) in one personality and not allergic to them in

another (Braun, 1983a). “One patient was allergic to citrus juices in all of his personalities except one. If

this personality ate an orange and remained in control of the body for a sufficient period of time to digest

and metabolize it, no ill effects resulted. Another patient, who was usually so allergic to cats that she itched

and teared around them, could play with them for considerable periods of time in one of her ego-states, and

even be scratched and licked, without any apparent allergic responses” (Braun, 1983b, quoted in Murphy,

1992, p. 242).

Dermatologic Reactions. Whenever a female alternate personality who, as a child, had received abusive

burns from lighted cigarettes administered by her mother and brother, appeared during therapy sessions, the

burn spots would reappear on her skin and last for 6-10 hours (Braun, 1983a). “Each time that personality

returned, the spots returned. The same patient in another personality developed stripe marks across the

lateral aspects of both arms, and some across the shoulders and back of the neck, all of which…were

reported to be the results of a whipping administered by the mother” (Braun, 1983b, p. 127).

Endocrine System Changes

Diabetic Status. A multiple can be diabetic in some personalities but not in others (Braun, 1983a).

Exceptional Abilities

Extending Peak Capacity. A personality who is tired, intoxicated, or in the throes of heroin withdrawal in

one alternate personality becomes alert, sober, and symptom-free once another personality takes control.

“For example, if A is tired or drugged, B can emerge fresh or clear-headed” (Braude, 1995, p. 45).

Paranormal Experiences. Multiples commonly report having paranormal experiences (e.g., ESP)

Healing. There are cases where third-degree burns heal with unusual speed when an individual shifts from

one personality to another (Braun, 1995; Putnam, 1984).


25

The very “same” person at one moment can be allergic to

orange juice, reacting in pain to a bee sting, drunk,

sedated, color-blind, diabetic, or epileptic, while a

moment later all these conditions mysteriously vanish and

the person is now non-allergic, anesthetic, sober,

energized, non-diabetic, non-epileptic, and have perfect

color vision while in the “same” body. Even such

seemingly “unchangeable” characteristics as visual acuity,

eye color, brain wave patterns, and voice pattern can alter

with a change in ego-state. Change of mind creates a

change in body. When different personalities are in

control of the body the chemical make up may vary

considerably, showing significant differences over the

main personality‟s usual hormonal status, for instance.

“The chemical changes are caused by the transition of

beliefs that operate, and not the other way around

(Roberts, 1974, p. 131).

Changing “unchangeable” bodily processes by shifts in

self-image. Current biopsychology “facts” tell us that

innumerable bodily processes are relatively unchangeable

and uninfluenced by things as intangible as the self-image

or self-concept (Kalat, 1998). Handedness is a

characteristic that does not undergo sudden shifts once

established. A person who is color-blind remains that

way. Visual acuity does not automatically change from

nearsightedness to farsightedness at will. Intelligence is a

stable personality trait that does not change from one

moment to another. Blood flow and brain wave activity is

not ordinarily subject to conscious control without

biofeedback training or years of disciplined yogic

training. Allergic responses are not simply turned on and

off when one wants them to. Yet they can be and are in

the provocative demonstrations of personality action

known as multiple personalities.

Revisioning biopsychological theory. The alterations in

physiological processes that are observed in switching

from one identity state to another could not happen if our

physical body did not have built-in capacities allowing

them to occur. The whole issue of mind-body plasticity

needs to undergo a major reformulation in biopsychology

based on the evidence of the extraordinary

psychophysical plasticity demonstrated in multiple

personalities (Prigogine, 1991). Imagine the degree to

which mind and body must interweave with one another

in order for a change in mood and thought to produce the

complex and multifaceted processes involved in restoring

destroyed or injured cells, in stopping the production of

specific antibodies, in reversing the inflammation of

individual capillaries of the lung and the release of fluid,

and in deactivating the action of particular chemicals,

especially histamine, to stop an allergic reaction in its

tracks.

Imagine all the physiological processes that must be

controlled at a moment‟s notice to decrease the lactic acid

and uric acid in the blood and decrease fat in the liver and

in the blood in order to cancel the effects of alcohol in the

blood system. Imagine the metabolic processes and body

cells that must be precisely manipulated to restore

sufficient insulin production from the beta cells of the

islands of Langerhans in the pancreas, or decrease the

insulin requirement by the tissue cells, or increase the

effectiveness of insulin by deactivating one or more

insulin antagonists in order to turn diabetes on and off.

How does one change the color of the iris which

genetically determined in the same way as skin color?

More than this, Michael Talbot in his 1991 book The

Holographic Universe observes, “Once a multiple has

undergone therapy and in some way becomes whole

again, he or she can still make these switches at will. This

suggests that somewhere in our psyches we all have the

ability to control these things” (Talbot, 1991, p. 100).

Spontaneous Remissions

Spontaneous remission refers to “the disappearance,

complete or incomplete, of a disease or cancer without

medical treatment or with treatment that is considered

inadequate to produce the resulting disappearance of

disease symptoms or tumor” (O‟Regan & Hirshberg,

1993, p. 2). Although the traditional medical view is that

spontaneous remissions do not really occur, but are

simply the result of a mistaken diagnosis of the

individual‟s condition and that the person never really had

the disease in the first place, these rare and spectacular

demonstrations of transpersonal mind-body

communication and healing persist in the annals of

medicine.

Brendan O‟Regan and Caryle Hirshberg (1993) as a part

of the Institute of Noetic Science‟s The Inner Mechanisms

of the Healing Response Program and The Remission

Project have assembled “the largest database of medically

reported cases of spontaneous remission in the world,

with more than 3,500 references, from more than 800

journals in 20 different languages” (p.3). The collection

of abstracts of research reports of remission reported in

their 1993 book, Spontaneous Remission: An Annotated

Bibliography indicate that extraordinary forms of healing

are widespread and occur for practically all medically

known diseases ranging from

cancers

infectious and parasitic diseases

endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases

immunity disorders


26

diseases of the circulatory system, blood and

blood forming organs

disorders of the nervous system and sense organs

respiratory and digestive system disorders

disorders of genitourinary system

pregnancy and childbirth-related disorders

diseases of the skin

subcutaneous and connective tissue diseases

musculoskeletal disorders

injury-related disorders.

Interestingly, O‟Regan & Hirshberg‟s (1993, pp. 11-39)

collection of research reports indicates that spontaneous

remissions have been observed to occur with no medical

intervention at all, but following a complex range of

events that one would not expect to cure the person at all

including:

diagnostic biopsy procedures

bacterial skin infections

wound infections

hypoglycemic coma

hemorrhage

menopause

smallpox infection

typhoid fever

pneumonia

heat (fever)

hepatitis

hysterectomy

cauterization

inflammation

pregnancy

abortion

incomplete operations

One of the more intriguing observations reported in

O‟Regan & Hershberg‟s collection of remission research

articles is that in some cases when the organ that was the

primary site of cancer was surgically removed, the other

organs to which the cancer had spread (“metastases”)

would frequently also be healed. In other cases, when an

simple needle biopsy procedure of the primary cancer site

occurred (i.e., there was no surgery to remove the cancer),

secondary metastases would disappear. “Biopsy can be

part of the process of inducing remission somehow. When

you intervene in one area, it sets up a process which can

help in another” (O‟Regan, 1991, p. 50).

O‟Regan & Hirshberg‟s (1993, p. 45) collection of

research abstracts indicates that remissions occur in

conjunction with a host of psychological and spiritual

factors that correlate with and appear to promote the

occurrence of remission including:

group support,

hypnosis/suggestion,

meditation,

relaxation techniques,

mental imagery,

psychotherapy/behavioral therapy

prayer/spiritual belief

religious/spiritual conversion

sense of purpose

placebo effect

diet/exercise

autonomous behavior/increased autonomy

faith/positive outcome expectancy

fighting spirit,

denial

lifestyle/attitude/behavioral (changes)

interpersonal relationship changes

positive emotions/acceptance of negative

emotions

environmental/social awareness/altruism

expression of needs

sense of control/internal locus of control

desire/will to live

increased or altered sensory perception

taking responsibility for illness

Evidence of the body’s innate healing ability. The

phenomenon of spontaneous remission demonstrates that

the body is equipped, ideally speaking, to rid itself of any

disease, and to maintain its health into old age.

Spontaneous remissions are also evidence of the body‟s

relative independence from the mind and of its power to

heal itself in the face of negative beliefs about illness that

may be held by the conscious mind. Spontaneous

remissions demonstrate that the body apparently

possesses its own defense mechanisms to protect itself

from the mind‟s negative beliefs? But if the body has

natural healing abilities of its own, then why does it not

“take over” more often to heal itself? From the

transpersonal perspective of Seth-Jane Roberts (1997, p.

15):

“The body consciousness is indeed independent.

To a large degree its own defense mechanisms

protect it from the mind‟s negative beliefs – at

least to a large degree. Almost all persons pass

from a so-called disease state back into healthy

states without ever being aware of the

alterations. In those cases the body

consciousness operates unimpeded by negative

expectations or concepts. When those negative

considerations are multiplied, however, when

they harden, so to speak, then they do indeed


27

begin to diminish the body‟s own natural

capacity to heal itself, and to maintain that

overall, priceless organization that should

maintain it in a condition of excellent strength

and vitality. There are also occasions when the

body consciousness itself rises up in spite of the

person‟s fears and doubts, and throws aside a

condition of illness in a kind of sudden victory.

Even then, however, the person involved has

already begun to question such negative beliefs.

The individual may not know how to cast them

off, even though he or she desires to do so. It is

in those instances that the body consciousness

arises and throws off its shackles. With free will,

however, it is not possible for the body

consciousness to be given full and clear

domination, for that would deny large areas of

choices, and cut off facets of learning. The main

direction and portent, however, of the body

consciousness on its own is always toward

health, expression, and fulfillment… The body

consciousness, on its own, is filled with

exuberance, vitality, and creativity (Roberts,

1997, p. 15)

Certain individuals who glimpse this great natural healing

ability of the body, such as Ernest Rossi, in his interesting

1986 book, The Psychobiology of Mind-Body Healing:

New Concepts of Therapeutic Hypnosis, informs us of it

in relationship to the phenomenon of cancer.

“It is important to understand that the body

develops cancer cells as an apparently natural

process throughout the entire lifespan within the

growth of clinically recognizable cancer tumors.

This is illustrated by the fact that one form of

cancer cell (neuroblastoma) is much higher even

in babies than in the clinical incidence of the

disease. On the other end of the scale,

postmortem autopsies on practically all males 50

or over show evidence of prostatic cancer cells,

yet actual clinical cancer is not evident in most

of them. Since most people do not develop

cancer even though cancer cells are continually

produced, the body must have a natural

immunological surveillance system that seeks

out and destroys the single cancer cells before

they grow into clinically evident tumors” (Rossi,

1986, p. 159).

A new paradigm of transpersonal medicine.

Transpersonal psychologists, who acknowledge the great

healing ability of the body, use it. Physicians encounter it

when a patient with a so-called incurable disease suddenly

recovers. Unfortunately, traditional medicine does not

understand the true nature of the body and its own

potentials, and as a result spontaneous remissions remain

understudied and undervalued.

“To be healthy you must believe in health. A

good physician is a changer of beliefs. He will

replace an idea of illness with one of health.

Whatever methods or drugs he used will not be

effective unless this change of belief takes

place.” (Roberts, 1974, 102).

A new paradigm of transpersonal medicine is emerging in

understanding the healing power of the human spirit

(Lawlis, 1996). O‟Regan & Hirshberg (1993) describe

the value of the study of spontaneous remissions for this

new approach to mind-body communication and healing:

A new area of biology is emerging: the study of

spontaneous remissions from normally fatal

illnesses. Of all the astonishing properties of

living systems the two most amazing are their

ability to reproduce themselves and the ability to

repair themselves in a wide variety of ways. As

Lewis Thomas suggests, scientists studying

spontaneous remission could uncover the

mysteries of how the human body can cure itself,

turning those mysteries into mechanisms of

healing “at will” (p. 1).

Spiritual Healing and Miraculous Cures

Distinguishing spiritual healing and spontaneous

remission. Some individuals might consider Mr.

Wright‟s remission of cancer (described at the beginning

of this chapter) an example of a “miracle” cure. Miracle

cures are defined as “the sudden, permanent, and

complete cure of a long-lasting condition of a more or less

organic in nature for which no adequate treatment can be

held responsible” (Van Kalmthout, 1985, p. 1). Miracle

cures can be distinguished from spontaneous remissions

(or regressions) by their time course and the

definitiveness of the cure. Whereas miracle cures are

sudden, total, permanent, and inexplicable, spontaneous

remissions tend to be gradual and temporary. Mr.

Wright‟s experience of placebo healing would be

considered a spontaneous remission of cancer in these

terms.


28

Because it lacked permanency, Mr. Wright‟s experience

would likely be considered to be a temporary remission

and not a miracle cure, at least as far as the rules of

evidence for miracle cures devised by the Roman Catholic

Church are concerned. Originally formulated in 1735 by

Cardinal Lambertini (afterwards Pope Benedict 14th),

five sets of criteria must be satisfied in order to be

considered a “miraculous cure” (Dowling, 1984, p. 634):

The disease must be serious, incurable or unlikely to

respond to treatment.

The cure must be sudden and reached instantaneously

(or developed over a period of days).The disease

which disappeared must not have reached a stage at

which it would have resolved by itself. No

medication should have been given, or if some

medicines were prescribed then they must have had

only unimportant effects (or potentially curative

treatments can be demonstrated to have failed)

The cure must be complete, not partial or incomplete.

All claims for a miracle cure have to pass through the

procedures of an International Medical Commission.

Figure 2-7 describes the rigorous procedures of the

International Medical Commission by which all claims of

cures are scrutinized before they can be declared to be

miraculous by the Roman Catholic Church.

Figure 2-7

Miracle Cures and Their Medical and Ecclesiastical

Assessment

Lourdes, France has been the site of cures and healings

ever since 1858 when three children saw a vision of the

Virgin Mary. In 1954 a medical commission was

established to scientifically verify the occurrence of

reported cures that have resulted from drinking or bathing

in the waters that flow from an underground spring there.

Of the 6,000 claims of miraculous cures that have been

evaluated by the International Medical Committee of

Lourdes, only 64 have been identified as medically

inexplicable and officially recognized as “miracles” by

the Roman Catholic Church.

Figure 2-8 illustrates the range of organic disorders that

have been cured at the famous shrine or by waters taken

from its springs.

Figure 2-8

Case Studies of Healing at Lourdes

Can faith reconstruct decaying bone? Some of the most

powerful beliefs that turn on the healing system are those

that embody one‟s spiritual faith. The “miraculous” cures

documented at Lourdes are a case in point. Can faith

reconstruct decaying bone? Apparently so. A remarkable

case of reconstruction of the hip bone and cavity in the

hip that had disintegrated as a result of a malignant

sarcoma was documented by the Commission in 1972, a

cure that is considered impossible from the viewpoint of

current medical science (Salmon, 1972). In 1962 Vittorio

Michelli was admitted to the hospital in Verona, Italy

with cancer of the bone and within 10 months the

cancerous tumor had entirely eaten away his hip bone to

such a degree that that his left leg was only attached to his

body by soft tissue and skin. As last resort, with his leg in

a plaster cast to keep it in place, he traveled to Lourdes

and while bathing in the waters at Lourdes, immediately

felt a healing heat permeate his body. Soon afterwards his

appetite and energy returned, and subsequent X-rays

disclosed that the tumor had grown smaller until it

eventually disappeared and the bone of his hip actually

began to regenerate. Within months Vittorio was walking

again and by 1965 his hip joint had completely

reconstructed itself, an event unknown in the annals of

medical science. The remarkable pelvis reconstruction

represented a permanent cure as verified by subsequent

X-rays in 1968 and 1969 – an event unparalleled in the

history of modern medicine. According to the official

report of the Medical Commission:

“Definitely a medical explanation of the cure of

sarcoma from which Michelli suffered was

sought and none could be found. He did not

undergo specific treatment, did not suffer from

any susceptible recurrent infection that might

have had any influence on the evolution of the

cancer. A completely destroyed articulation was

completely reconstructed without any surgical

intervention. The lower limb which was useless

became sound, the prognosis is indisputable, the

patient is alive and in a flourishing state of health

nine years after his return from Lourdes”

(quoted in O‟Regan, 1990, p. 51).

Michael Murphy in his 1992 book The Future of the

Body: Explorations into the Future Evolution of Human

Nature identifies the range of maladies for which

complete remissions have been documented cures at

Lourdes, including:


29

Figure 2-7. Spiritual Cures and Their Medical and Ecclesiastical Assessment

(Dowling, 1984, pp. 635-636)

“At present there are 25 members of the Commission: thirteen French, two Italian, two Belgian,

two English, two Irish, one each from Spain, Holland, Scotland and Germany. Then they have a

wide spread of specialties. Four each from general medicine and surgery, three from orthopedics,

two each from general psychiatry, neuropsychiatry, dermatology, ophthalmology, pediatrics,

cardiology, oncology, neurology and biochemistry. Ten members hold chairs in their medical

schools. All are practicing Catholics. Many are doctors who come regularly to Lourdes as

pilgrimage medical officers, but some have little or no connection with the shrine.

“If, after the initial scrutiny and follow-up, the Medical Bureau thinks that there is good evidence

of an inexplicable cure, the dossier [on the cure] is sent to the International Medical Commission

which usually meets once a year in Paris. The preliminary investigation of the data is made, and

if the members agree that the case is worth investigating, they appoint one or two of their

members to act as rapporteur. The rapporteur then makes a thorough study of the case, usually

seeing the patient himself [or herself], and presents the material in a detailed written dossier

circulated to the members before the meeting at which they will make their decision.

“The report is then discussed critically, at length, under 18 headings, a vote being taken at each

stage. In the first three stages, the Committee considers the diagnosis and has to satisfy itself

that a correct diagnosis has been made and proven by the production of the results of full

physical examination, laboratory investigations, x-ray studies and endoscopy and biopsy where

applicable: failure at this stage is commonly because of inadequate investigation or missing

documents. At the next two stages, the Committee must be satisfied that the disease was organic

and serious without any significant degree of psychological overlay.

“Next it must make sure that the natural history of the disease precludes the possibility of

spontaneous remission. The medical treatment given cannot have affected the cure…Then the

evidence that the patient has indeed been cured is scrutinized and the Committee must be

satisfied that both objective and subjective symptoms have disappeared and that investigations

are normal. The suddenness and completeness of the cure are considered together with any

sequelae. Finally, the adequacy of the length of follow-up is considered. After this detailed

study, the question, „Does the cure of this person constitute a phenomenon which is contrary to

the observation and expectations of medical knowledge and scientifically inexplicable?‟ is put.

A simple majority carries the case one way or the other.

“The declaration by the[ International Committee] does not make it a miracle because that is a

matter for the Church, not doctors. The verdict is sent to the patient‟s bishop and if he thinks fit

he appoints a Canonical Commission with its own medical advisors. If it reports favorably and

the bishop accepts the report, he issues a decree declaring the case to be a miracle.


30

Figure 2-8. Case Studies of Healing at Lourdes

(Murphy, 1992, pp. 269-271; O‟Regan, 1991, p. 51; O‟Regan & Hirshberg, 1993, pp. 547-548;

Garner, 1974)

Francis Pascal contracted meningitis – an inflammation of the membranes that cover the brain

and spinal cord – in 1937 at the age of three that caused loss of sight and partial paralysis. One

year later, Pascal was brought to Lourdes and, after two immersions in the waters that flow from

an underground spring there, was instantly cured of his blindness and paralysis. Members of the

International Medical Commission confirmed that Pascal‟s previous blindness and paralysis had

been organic, not functional., and that his cure was authentic. The cure was pronounced to be

miraculous by the archbishop of Aix-en-Provence in 1949.

Gerard Bailie, born with normal vision, developed bilateral chorioretinitis and double optic

atrophy - a normally incurable inflammation of the choroid tissue and retina of the eye, resulting

in the reduction of blood supply and a wasting away of the optic nerve - in 1943 at the age of two

and a half, and lost his sight entirely as a result of an unsuccessful surgical operation. Four years

later, Bailie‟s sight was completely restored during a visit to Lourdes. The Members of the

International Medical Commission confirmed that Bailie‟s previously atrophied optic nerves had

been completely restored in size and that he could now see objects clearly.

Delizia Cirolli was diagnosed with a case of Ewing‟s sarcoma in her right knee – a malignant

tumor of the bone that produces painful swelling in the tissue of the knee - in 1976 at the age of

12. Refusing the advice of the surgeon to have her leg amputated, Delizia‟s parents took her to

Lourdes where she spent four days attending the ceremonies, praying at the Grotto, and bathing

in the waters. There was no improvement and X rays taken the following month showed a

spreading of the malignant tumor. As family and friends prepared for her funeral, they prayed to

the Virgin Mary for a cure and Delizia‟s mother regularly gave her Lourdes water to drink. Three

months later, the malignant tumor had vanished, and subsequent X-rays showed repair of the

bone that had metastasized. The Members of the International Medical Commission confirmed

that Ewing‟s tumor had been the correct diagnosis and in 1982 declared that the cure was

scientifically inexplicable.

Serge Perrin developed organic hemiplegia with ocular lesions - a paralysis of one side of the

body caused by a brain lesion with loss of sight caused by cerebral circulatory defects – in 1970.

After praying at the Grotto and bathing in the water, Perrin was suddenly and completely cured

of his afflictions, regaining motor movement and restoration of his sight. The Members of the

International Medical Commission confirmed the original diagnosis and deemed the cure

scientifically inexplicable.


31

ulcers on hands, feet and legs with extensive

gangrene

anterolateral spinal sclerosis (motor disorder of

the nervous system)

tuberculosis (inflammation of the lungs)

peritonitis (the inflammation of the walls of the

abdomen caused by inflammation of abdominal

organs, perforated gallbladder ruptured cyst,

internal bleeding)

leg and abdominal tumors (a swelling caused by

uncontrolled and progressive new growth of

tissue)

dorsolumbar spondylitis (a degenerative change

in the spine)

blindness of cerebral origin

bilateral optic atrophy (a wasting away of the

optic nerve resulting in loss of vision and

permanent blind spot in the center of the visual

field)

multiple sclerosis (the demyelization of the white

matter of the brain and spinal cord resulting in

paralysis)

sarcoma of the pelvis (cancer of the hip)

Budd-Chiari syndrome (a circulatory system

disorder involving closure or obstruction of

blood vessels to the liver) (Murphy, 1992, p.

271).

Alex Carrel’s Voyage to Lourdes. One of the most

evocative accounts of spiritual healing that occurred at

Lourdes is described by Dr. Alex Carrel in his 1903 book

Voyage to Lourdes (Carrel, 1950). Dr. Carrel was a

rationalist, a skeptic and a Nobel Laureate in medicine

who, during a train trip to Lourdes, decided to personally

observed a young woman named Marie Bailly whom he

met on the train. On the verge of death and suffering from

the last stages of tubercular peritonitis (inflammation of

the lining of the walls of the abdominal and pelvic

cavities), Dr. Carrel watched Marie slowly heal right

before his eyes after only a few hours in the Grotto where

Bernadette is reported to have seen her vision of the

Virgin Mary. As a result of his experience at Lourdes,

Carrel came away convinced that many of the cures at

Lourdes were indeed authentic and could not solely be

attributed to the power of suggestion or to the relief of

mere functional (psychosomatic) disorders. Although he

found it “distressingly unpleasant to be personally

involved in a miracle,” he declared that “to say something

is not true without having first investigated the facts is to

commit a grave scientific error… it is also the duty of

science not to reject things simply because they appear

extraordinary or because science is powerless to explain

them… The only thing that matters is to look at the facts”

(Carrel, 1950, pp. 50-51).

Spiritual Healing

When Norman Cousins (1989) says that “belief becomes

biology” he talking about how “an external suggestion

can become an internal expectation, and that internal

expectation can manifest in the body” (Radin, 1997, p.

148). Fifty years ago this idea was scientific heresy.

Because of research studies of placebo effects, imagery

and cancer, biofeedback, hypnosis, the role of cultural

conditioning and private attitudes and acts of will on

disease states, psychosomatic illness, psycho-neuro-

immunology, and spontaneous remission of terminal

diseases, the notion of mind-body interaction is now more

commonly accepted. We still do not understand the

precise biochemical and neurological actions that

transduce and transmit mental intention to their precise

bodily targets; nor do we know the limits of mental

influence on the body. If the mind interacts with its own

body (proximate mental healing), can it also interact with

other physical bodies distant from it? Is there evidence, in

other words, of spiritual healing (i.e., distant mental

healing)?

Mental healing and spiritual healing distinguished. In

most instances of what is called “mental healing” it is

necessary for the person to believe in something in order

for the healing to occur. That “something” may be a pill, a

surgical procedure, a visualization technique, an

electronic signal, a hypnotic suggestion, an authority

figure, and even the control that such objects, procedures,

or figures are believed to provide over one‟s disease state

(Justice, 1987). Whether a person is an atheistic or

agnostic, the healing powers of the body are released

through belief. These forms of healing are sometimes

distinguished from what is called “spiritual healing” in

that the person does not have to believe in God or some

“higher force” in order for them to work.

“Spiritual healing…employs a special type of

mental thought called prayer, specifically

directed to a Higher Power than man; and

attributes ultimate responsibility for any

resulting healing not to the human mind but to

that Higher Power, often called God”

(Schmicker, 2002, p. 162).


32

Figure 2-9. Definitions of Spirit, Spiritual, Spirituality, Spiritual Care, Spiritual Awareness,

Spiritual Well-Being, and Spiritual Healing

(Aldridge, 1993)

Author Description Benor D., 1990 “Healing is the direct influence of one or more persons upon another living system

without using known physical means of interventions”

Cohen, J. 1989 “Spiritual healers believe they can influence the course of an illness by „spiritual‟

or nonphysical means. Healing can be offered in person or at a distance, and does

not require religious acceptance or belief by either party. It is a complement, not an

alternative, to orthodox medicine.”

Csordas T. 1983 “Four kinds of healing are practiced by charismatics. Physical healing is the one

most widely known in American religious culture, and is associated with popular

evangelists. Spiritual healing treats the soul that has been injured by sin. The

Healing of the Memories, also called Inner Healing, treats emotional hurts and

scars. Deliverance is the form of healing in which the adverse effects of demons or

spirits on a person‟s behavior and personality are removed by expulsion of the

spirits judged to be responsible.”

Ellis, J., et al. 1991 “Spiritual well-being is the affirmation of life in a relationship with God, self,

community, and environment that nurtures and celebrates wholeness.”

Emblen, J. 1992 “Spiritual care includes helping people to identify meaning and purpose in their

lives, maintain personal relationships, and transcend a given moment.”

Fehring, R. et al., 1987 “Spiritual well-being is a personality attribute conceived of having one vertical

dimension connoting one‟s perception of a relationship with God, and one

horizontal dimension connoting one‟s perception of life-meaning or purpose or

satisfaction with one‟s existence.”

Glik, D. 1988 “In regards to healing, rituals, symbols, and myths serve to shift focus from self to

the collectivity, from the particular to the whole, from one series of life events to

the whole life, from the unique to the archetypal.”

Griffith, E. 1983 “Healing is a natural ministry of the church and a church-based clinic could help

people move toward a mature faith in God which, in turn, could influence bodily

reactions in the direction of greater health.”

Kuhn, C. 1988 “Spiritual elements are those capacities that enable a human being to rise above or

transcend any experience at hand. They are characterized by the capacity to seek

meaning and purpose, to have faith, to love, to forgive, to pray, to meditate, to

worship, and to see beyond present circumstances.”

Hiatt J. 1988 “The spiritual dimension, then, is that aspect of the person concerned with meaning

and the search for absolute reality that underlies the world of the senses and the

mind and, as such, is distinct from adherence to a religious system.”

Reed P. 1987 “Spirituality is defined in terms of personal views and behaviors that express a

sense of relatedness to a transcendental dimension or to something greater than the

self.”

Smyth P. et al., 1988 “Spiritual awareness is when others speak of the conviction that life has a purpose,

of the search for meaning, of the attempt to interpret their personal illness in w ay

that makes sense of their worldview.”

Solfin J. 1984 “Mental healing is the practice of treating illness without a known physical

curative agent. It is also known as psychic healing, spiritual healing, non-medical

healing, shamanic healing, prayer healing, miracle healing, lay on of hands,

paranormal healing, and magnetizing, although these terms are not

interchangeable.”


33

Many definitions of spiritual healing. Spiritual healing

has many definitions and called many things. Figure 2-9

lists a selection of definitions that have been used in the

research literature that have focused upon the intentional

activity of the mind as a means of influencing physical

systems such as the body at a distance (i.e., without using

known physical means) (Aldridge, 1993). Other terms

referring to spiritual healing include: “distant mental

healing,” “prayer,” “faith healing,” divine healing,” and

“bioenergetic therapy.” This is distinguished from

healing techniques in which there is direct contact

between the practitioner and the patient, such as in the

“laying-on-of-hands. In spiritual healing, as the term is

used here, there is no direct physical contact between

patient and practitioner – simply the direction of healing

thoughts or intentions to a patient at a distance.

Figure 2-9.

Definitions of Spirit, Spiritual, Spirituality, Spiritual

Healing

Several collections of studies on action-at-a-distance

spiritual healing – Jerry Slofvin‟s (1984) review of mental

healing; Daniel Benor‟s (1990, 1993a, 1993b, 1993c)

review of clinical studies, Schouten‟s (1993) studies of

healers and psychics, Larry Dossey‟s (1993) Healing

Words, Richard Gerber‟s (1988) Vibrational Medicine,

and Robert Becker‟s (1990) Cross Currents – extensively

document what is currently known about nonlocal healing

phenomena. The entire Fall 1993 issue of Advances: The

Journal of Mind-Body Health (Col. 9, No. 4). is devoted

to the question of “Is There Evidence for Spiritual

Healing”? This and other research indicates that

spirituality and religiosity generally have a positive effect

on health (see American Psychologist, 2003, Vol. 58, No.

1). The is also evidence for what Dean Radin (1997) calls

“distant mental interactions” with living organisms,

including cell cultures, bacteria, plants, and other living

organisms (p. 149) (e.g., Joyce & Welldon, 1965; Loehr,

1969; Collip, 1969). Transpersonal psychologists tend to

show greater attention to spirituality and spiritual healing

in their clinical and experimental research than is true of

orthodox conventional psychologists or health

practitioners who operate solely within the biomedical

model of health-illness.

As far as traditional biomedical and behavioral science is

concerned, however, it is assumed that praying for a

distant person is simply an expression of primitive,

magical thinking, an irrational behavior motivated by

religious belief in the face of modern medicine‟s inability

to cure many chronic health problems. Distant healing is

impossible both in theory and in fact because mental

action is nothing more than the by-product of brain

activity confined within the skull, entirely localized and

dependent upon the workings of the physical brain alone.

To imagine that thought could affect a physical body at a

distance without some sort of physical intervention or

mechanism is no more than wishful thinking and the

result of the brain‟s irresistible drive to create meaning

out of a basically meaningless situation (Crick, 1994;

Newberg & D‟Aquili, & Rause, 2001). To those who

accept the metaphysical framework that supports such an

assumption (i.e., that the only reality is physical reality),

then such a belief may be logically unassailable. But does

all evidence support belief in such a metaphysic or can a

healer in location A affect the physiology of a patient at a

distant location B without some sort of proximate

physical or psychological intervention? Clinical and

experimental data exists that suggests that it can and does

happen (Slofvin, 1984; Benor, 1990, 1993a, 1993b,

1993c; Dossey, 1993).

Healing words: The power of prayer and the practice

of medicine. For instance, Larry Dossey in his 1993

book Healing Words documents more than 56 double-

blind, randomized control group experiments dealing with

healing effects of prayer on cells, bacteria, plants,

animals, and human beings showing statististically

significant results out of the 131 studies review

describing controlled experiments on distant mental

healing (see reviews provided by Benor, 1990, 1993a,

1992b, 1993c). The odds of obtaining 56 successful

results out of 131 experiments are beyond a trillion to

one. These studies constitute scientific proof for the

healing power of prayer and the fact that some people

sometimes improve dramatically following prayers.

Obviously, the alteration in physiological processes that

are observed in action-at-a-distance spiritual healing

could not happen if our physical body did not have built-

in capacities allowing it to occur.


34

1988 Byrd study of distant healing on heart disease. A

1988 prospective, randomized, double-blind study

conducted by California cardiologist Randolph Byrd on

distant healing, for instance, provided positive support for

the reality of distance healing. (Byrd, 1988). Three

hundred and ninety-three randomly selected hospitalized

coronary-care-unit patients at San Francisco General

Hospital, matched in age and severity of condition, were

randomly assigned to an prayed-for group (n = 192) or a

unprayed-for control group (n=201). Each patient was

assigned to three to seven “intercessors” - a network of

prayer groups of various religious denominations around

the country – who were given the first name, diagnosis,

and general condition of their patient, and informed of

any changes in the patients‟ general condition. The

participating Christians were asked to pray daily over a

10-month period for a rapid recovery, the prevention of

complications and death, and a quick recovery of their

patient.

“When the results were analyzed, Byrd found that

the prayed-for subjects had significantly fewer

complications while in the coronary care unit.

Only three required antibiotics, compared with

16 in the control group. Six prayed-for patients

suffered pulmonary edema while 18 in the other

group experienced that complication. None of

those receiving prayers needed intubation,

compared with 12 of the unprayed-for (Justice,

1987, p. 284).

Thus, the prayed-for group less frequently required

ventilatory assistance, antibiotics, and diuretics than did

the patients in the control group. In general, 85 percent of

the prayed-for group had no new diagnoses or medical

problems, and required no new therapies during their

hospital stay compared to 73 percent in the control group.

Only 14 percent of the prayed-for group experienced

additional service medical problems or died during their

hospital stay compared to 22 percent in the unprayed-for

control group.

The results of this study proved to be suggestive rather

than conclusive, given the mere 8 percent difference

between the prayed-for and unsprayed-for groups.

Unfortunately no one monitored whether the prayers

groups actually prayed as they were supposed to, what

type of prayers were used by the prayer groups, and

whether other people (e.g., friends, relatives) were also

praying for the control group while the experiment was in

progress (Dossey, 1993, pp. 179-186).

1998 study of distant healing on AIDS patients. Michael Schmicker in his2002 book Best Evidence

describes a 1998 double-blind study on distant healing

conducted at the California Pacific Medical Center with a

population of San Francisco AID patients matched on age

and severity of condition. Patients were randomly

assigned to prayer treatment and no-prayer control

groups. Forty experienced healers of different faiths from

all over the country tried to influence from a distance the

medical condition of the treatment group using whatever

prayer ritual they found most appropriate. Results

indicated that compared to the men in the control group,

“those men treated with healing from a distance

experienced significantly better medical outcomes and

quality-of-life outcomes – fewer outpatient doctor visits,

fewer hospitalizations, less severe illness and less

emotional stress” (Schmicker, 2002, p. 166; Sicher, Targ,

Moore, & Smith, 1998)

1999 replication of the Byrd study. In a 1999 study

designed to replicate the Byrd findings, (Harris, 1999),

990 hospitalized coronary care unit (CCU) patients at

Mid-America Heart Institute at St. Luke‟s Hospital in

Kansas City, Missouri, matched in age and severity of

condition, were randomly assigned to a prayed-for group

or a unprayed-for control group. A group of Roman

Catholic and Protestant Christians who agreed with the

following belief statement - “I believe in God. I believe

He is personal and is concerned with individual lives. I

further believe that he is responsible to prayers for healing

made on behalf of the sick” - prayed for persons in the

treatment group. When results were analyzed, Harris

found that patients who were named in prayer did better.

“Patients prayed for stayed in the hospital the

same average length of time as patients who

weren‟t prayed for, but their overall hospital

experience was measurably better. Only 51

(10.9%) of the prayed-for patients required major

surgery, whereas 76 (14.6%) of the control group

(non-prayed for patients) did. In another

measurement, only 12 (2.6%) of the prayed-for

patients required intra-aortic balloon pumps

while 20 (3.8%) of the control group did”

(Schmicker, 2002, p. 167).


35

Characteristics of healing-at-a-distance. Much of the

evidence indicates that “a simple attitude of prayfulness –

an all-pervading sense of holiness and a feeling of

empathy, carting, and compassion for the entity in need –

seems to set the stage for healing” (Dossey, 1993, p. xvii).

No particular prayer ritual is necessary (a simple “Thy

Will Be Done” or “May the best possible outcome

prevail” may be sufficient), flowing as it does from the

depths of the unconscious. Healing can take place

whether the prayed for person is a friend or a stranger,

either locally on site or nonlocally at a distance. The

person being prayed for does not even need to be

consciously aware of that fact ( after all, the physical

processes of enzymes, bacteria, cells, seeds, plants, and

animals have all shown to change as the result of prayer).

Be careful what you pray for. Although not all prayer is

100% effective, reaching “a maximum of 20%...even in

the best of hands…and [being] more effective for some

problems than others…it is not difficult to imagine how a

100 percent success rate for prayer would create

unimaginable global havoc” (Dossey, 1993, pp. 2-3). In a

subsequent 1997 book titled Be Careful What You Pray

For…You Just Might Get it: What We Can Do About the

Unintentional Effects of Our Thoughts, Prayers, and

Wishes Dr. Dossey reveals the power of prayer to harm

as well as to help.

Eliminating alternative explanations. As a mental

action, the power of prayer to influence bodily processes

at a distance suggests something important about the

nature of life, mind and consciousness, and the

transpersonal nature of the physical body. As psychiatrist

Eric Leskowitz observes in his 1993 article titled

“Spiritual Healing, Modern Medicine, and Energy”:

“Clearly the standard biomedical model of man as

an isolated biologic machine is not adequate to

explain these dramatic physical effects of absent

prayer. Nor, in this case, is the common

psychoanalytic view that prayer is simply a

defense mechanism which decreases anxiety. Yet

neither is the paradigm of psycho-neuro-

immunology adequate, for it postulates mind-

body connections mediated by cellular

biochemistry, limited by physical constraints,

and unable to span the boundaries of space and

time set up in [these] studies. Hence, once one

has convinced oneself that [these] studies [are]

methodologically rigorous, one must find a more

comprehensive model of reality to explain the

surprising results” (Leskowitz, 1993, p. 51).

Neglecting this information results in an incomplete

theology and a misshapen medicine, and it is bad science

as well” (Dossey, 1993, p. 10).

The Charisms of Catholic Saints and Mystics

Charismatic phenomena that are recognized by the

Catholic Church are exceptional human experiences that

frequently accompany mysticism and religious devotional

practice. Figure 2-10 lists some of the “charisms” or

extraordinary phenomena identified by the New Catholic

Encyclopedia that have been subjected to thorough

investigations by church officials, medical researchers,

and skeptical civil authorities not unlike the scrutiny that

miracle cures at Lourdes have undergone.

Figure 2-10

Charismatic Phenomena Recognized by Catholic

Authorities

Many saints and mystics of the world‟s great religions

have exhibited these dramatic psychophysical changes in

many cultures and throughout history, observed by

reliable witnesses and thoroughly investigated and

documented by highly informed religious authorities and

medical researchers in volumes of medical reports,

ecclesiastical reviews, and investigative journalists‟

accounts to uncover pious fraud or moderate uncritical

belief.

“Taken as a whole, studies of Roman Catholic

sanctity provide a unique body of evidence for

human transformative capacities…Roman

Catholic canonization records provide

compelling evidence for serval types of

metanormal capacity, and they undoubtedly

contain clues about extraordinary functioning

that no one has yet pursued. Someday, perhaps,

their immense store of first-hand reports will be

searched more thoroughly for insights about

psychosomatic transformation” (Murphy, 1992,

pp. 478-481).

Jesuit Herbert Thurston wrote a scholarly book titled The

Physical Phenomena of Mysticism (published

posthumously in 1952) that provides an excellent

summary of the canonization proceedings, psi research

findings, and psychiatric interpretations related to the

charisms of Catholic mystics and saints. Although the

charisms of Catholic saints and mystics are not by

themselves considered proof of sanctity by the Roman

Catholic Church, they do demonstrate the extraordinary

psychophysical transformations that accompany intense

devotion and belief (Gowan, 1980; Talbot, 1991; Murphy,

1992; Thurston, 1952).


36

Figure 2-10. Charismatic Phenomena Recognized by Catholic Authorities

(Murphy, 1992, p. 483; New Catholic Encyclopedia, 1967, vol. 10, pp. 173-174))

Visions, the perception of normally invisible objects.

Locutions, interior illuminations by means of words or statements, sometimes accompanied by a

vision and seeming to proceed from the object represented.

Reading of hearts, telepathic knowledge of secret thoughts or mood without sensory cues.

Incendium amoris, burning sensations in the body without apparent cause. These include interior

heat, usually a sensation around the heart, which gradually extends to other parts of the body;

intense ardors (when the heat becomes unbearable and cold applications must be used); and

material burning that scorches clothing or blisters the skin.

Stigmata, the spontaneous appearance of wounds and bleeding that resembles the wounds of

Christ.

Tears of blood and bloody sweat (hematidrosis), the effusion of blood from the eyes, as in

weeping, or from the pores of the skin.

Exchange of hearts, the appearance of a pronounced ridge of flesh on a finger, representing a ring

designating mystical marriage with Christ.

Bilocation, the simultaneous presence of a material body in two distinct places at once.

Agility, the instantaneous movement of a physical body from one place to another without passing

through the intervening space.

Levitation, elevation of the human body above the ground without visible cause and its suspension

in the air without natural support. It may also appear in the form of ecstatic flight or ecstatic walk.

Compenetration of bodies, when one material body appears to pass through another.

Body incombustibility, the ability of bodies to withstand the natural laws of combustibility.

Bodily elongation or shrinking.

Inedia, abstinence from all nourishment for great lengths of time.

Mystical aureoles and illuminations, radiance from the body, especially during ecstasy or

contemplation, which is considered to be an anticipation of the Glorified Body.

Blood prodigies, bodily incorruptibility, and absence of rigor mortis in human cadavers.


37

Several examples of charismatic-type phenomena are

described briefly below that offer another line of evidence

for the transpersonal nature of the physical body:

stigmata, blood prodigies, body incombustibility, , inedia,

invulnerability to injury, agility, physical materialization,

and body elongation

Religious Stigmata

Of the 350 cases of religious stigmata that have been

reported since the phenomenon was first reported to have

occurred on the body of St. Francis of Assisi in 1224 AD,

approximately 60 cases have been examined,

documented, and verified by medical and religious

authorities (Murphy, 1992, pp. 484-502). Religious

stigmata involve the appearance on the body of bruises,

welts, bleeding wounds on the hands, feet, chest, and head

corresponding to the image of Christ‟s crucifixion

wounds displayed in art, sculptures, religious artifacts,

and written about in religious texts. Religious stigmata

differ from so-called hysterical stigmata in that they are

almost always accompanied by ecstasy and other mystical

phenomena, whereas hysterical stigmata tend to occur in

the context of emotional stresses. Nearly all stigmatists

are religious persons, such as St. Catherine of Siena, but

not all stigmatists have been saintly persons. Most

authenticated cases of stigmata have occurred in women.

Almost all stigmatists show wounds in their feet, hands,

and lower chest; some have developed marks and deep

indentations around their wrists. Unlike similar wounds

caused by physical projectiles, stigmatists‟ wounds never

become inflamed, infected, or putrified. Stigmata are

provocative examples of cutaneous alterations brought

about by strongly felt-remembered-thought-imagined

ideas and how “deeply absorbed states of mind can

facilitate significant bodily changes” (Murphy, 1996, pp.

484-502).

Notable stigmatists. Notable stigmatists whose wounds

were extensively scrutinized, documented, and verified by

medical and religious authorities include

Anne Catherine Emmerich (an Austrian nun who

exhibited bleeding wounds in 1812)

Gemma Galgani (an Italian pheasant whose

bleeding wounds corresponded to a crucifix

before which she was accustomed to pray)

Louise Lateau (a Belgian woman who exhibited

the stigmata from 1868 until her death in 1883)

Marie-Julie Jahenny (a French peasant who

exhibited the stigmata from 1873 until her death

in 1894, and which included skin-writing of the

words O Crux Ave with a cross and flower on her

chest)

Padre Pio (an Italian Capuchin monk who

exhibited the stigmata from 1918 until his death

in 1968)

Theresa Neumann (a German woman who

exhibited the stigmata from 1926 until her death

in 1962).

Father Herbert Thurston‟s 1952 book titled The Physical

Phenomena of Mysticism describes provides an excellent

summary of the lives of each of these stigmatists and the

mystical phenomena that accompanied the stigmata.

The case of Therese Neumann. One remarkable

stigmatist that has been extensively studied by medical

investigators is Therese Neumann (1898-1962).

Paramahansa Yogananda (1893-1952) first revered holy

man of India to set up permanent residence in the West,

devotes an entire chapter (chapter 39) to the stigmatist

Therese Neumann in his book Autobiography of a Yogi

(1946/1974).. He provides the following highlights of her

life:

(1) Therese, born on Good Friday in 1898, was

injured in an accident at the age of twenty; she

became blind and paralyzed.

(2) She miraculously regained her sight in 1923

through prayers to St. Therese of Lisieux, “The

Little Flower.” Later Therese Neumann‟s limbs

were instantly healed.

(3) From 1923 onward, Therese has abstained

completely from food and drink, except for the

daily swallowing of one small concentrated

wafer.

(4) The stigmata, sacred wounds of Christ, appeared

in 1926 on Therese‟s head, breast, hands, and

feet. Every Friday she experiences the Passion of

Christ, suffering in her own body all his historic

agonies.

(5) Knowing ordinarily only the simple German of

her village, during her Friday trances Therese

utters phrases which scholars have identified as

ancient Aramaic. At appropriate times in her

vision, she speaks Hebrew or Greek.

(6) By ecclesial permission, Therese has several

times been under close scientific observation. Dr.

Fritz Gerlick, editor of a Protestant German

newspaper, went to Konnersreuth to “expose the

Catholic fraud,” but ended up by reverently

writing her biography” (Yogananda, 1946/1974,

pp. 419-420.


38

Strong faith, not divine intervention is the likely

explanation of stigmata. Evidence that strong spiritual

belief and faith, not divine intervention, is the cause of

religious stigmata can be found in the fact that “the form,

size, shape, and location of the wounds varies from

stigmatist to stigmatist, an inconsistency that indicates

they are not derived from a common source, i.e., the

actual wounds of Christ” (Talbot, 1991, p. 109; Thurston,

1952). Some stigmatists show chest wounds on the left

side, others on the right side (the Bible does not say which

side the Roman thrust his spear); others show stigmata

that resembled wounds on the statuettes they were

accustomed to worship. Also all stigmatists since St.

Francis exhibit nail wounds on their hands and feet as

displayed in religious icons (instead of through their

wrists which was the Roman custom for crucifixion, since

the hands and feet would be incapable of supporting the

weight of a body hanging on a cross). At the very least

stigmata show “the effects mental images may have on

local bodily functions” (Stevenson, 1997, p. 15).

Whatever the cause of the phenomenon (e.g.,

transformative self-suggestion in the guise of God‟s

intercession), stigmatists demonstrate the body‟s

malleability and responsiveness to strong imagery,

emotions, and the will. Stigmatists demonstrate the

transpersonal nature of the physical body in it ability to

produce significant and specific bodily changes in

response to compelling mental imagery (evocative artistic

depictions of Christ‟s crucifixion), a passionate and ardent

desire to embody a religious ideal (sharing Christ‟s

ordeals) , and deeply absorbed states of mind (rapturous

trance states (Murphy, 1992, pp. 497-502).

Blood Prodigies

Liquification of St. Januarius’s blood. Human blood,

once it dries up into a brown crusty substance, is not

supposed to be able to become bright, red liquid again

simply by having a group of religious devotees shouting

at it. Yet this is precisely what has occurred in May and

September most every year since 1389 at the Cathedral of

San Gennaro, or St. Januarius. St. Januarius was

beheaded by the Roman emperor Diocletian in AD 305

and, according to legend, some of his blood was collected

as a relic at that time, and was hidden until the end of the

thirteenth century when it was placed in a silver reliquary

in the cathedral. Spectroanalysis of the liquid in 1902

confirmed that it was real blood, but how the intense

devotion and belief of all the people witnessing the

miracle makes it occur is impossible to explain by known

scientific laws (Rogo, 1982, p. 79).

Blood flowing upward counter to the force of gravity. Observations of stigmatist Therese Neumann‟s blood-

flowing wounds indicated that when blood flowed it

always flowed downward toward her toes regardless of

how her feet were positioned (Schimberg, 1947)!

Numerous witnesses reported observing these gravity-

defying flows of blood even when she was sitting up-right

in bed with her toes up in the air -- the blood would flow

upward and counter to the force of gravity. Other

stigmatists were capable of this feat as well (Thurston,

1952).

Body Incombustibility

Fire immunity throughout history. Vincent Gaddis‟s

1967 book Mysterious Fires and Lights and Father

Herbert Thurston‟s 1952 book The Physical Phenomena

of Mysticism are two of the best accounts of the

remarkable psychosomatic transformation of

“invulnerability to fire” displayed by individuals

throughout history. There is the Old Testament story of

Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego who survived the

fiery furnace of Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel iii, 25-27). St.

Francis of Paula‟s (1508) held burning embers in his

hands without being harmed. The Camisard leader, Claris,

during the rise of the Huguenots against Louis XIV, in the

presence of 600 persons, placed himself on top of a

burning pyre, but remained unhurt throughout the event

with no mark of fire on his clothes or hair. Gabrielle

Moler‟s, a Jansenist convulsionnaire, in the presences of

hundreds of people, put her head into a roaring hearth fire

and held it there without so much as singeing hair,

eyelash or eyebrow. Ceylonese fire-walking rituals

involve natives walking through thousand degree hot pits

of flaming embers. In these dramatic manifestations of

the transpersonal nature of the human body, the

apparently “unbreakable” natural law that fire burns

human flesh is transcended.

Firewalking. Firewalking is one of the most documented

phenomenon associated with fire immunity in modern

times (Gowan, 1980). Firewalking in Ceylon, for

example, has been the subject of magazine articles

authenticated with pictures (Atlantic Monthly, May, 1959;

National Geographic, April, 1966) and accounts in

academic journals (Nature, September 1935; The Lancet,

1935). Firewalking has occurred in every society in all

ages and cultures from ancient to modern (Long, 1954).

Many Western scientists have been not only eye-

witnesses but even granted the power to participate

themselves (Long, 1954). The effect has been so well-

documented and is at such variance with our usual

concepts of physical reality that it certainly deserves

mention as another demonstration of human

transformative capacity and of the transpersonal nature of

the human body.


39

Inedia

Independence from food and drink. Current medical

knowledge states that a person cannot survive with water

for more than 3 days and without food for 14 days. Water

is constantly leaving the body through the process of

dehydration with approximately 28 ounces of water being

expelled daily through breathing and through the pores of

the skin.

The case of Sister Esperance of Jesus. The charism of

inedia – long abstinence from drink and food (Host

excepted), sometimes without loss of weight or energy -

has been established by ecclesiastical authorities of the

Roman Catholic Church and medical groups who have

scrutinized “heroic fasting,” often submitting individuals

to around-the-clock observation and chemical analysis of

their urine, blood, and vomit (Farges,1926).

“In 1868 the abstinence of Sister Esperance of

Jesus was officially confirmed by the Bishop of

Ottawa, assisted by two physicians, one, Dr.

Baubien, a Catholic, and the other, Dr. Ellis, a

Protestant. She was subjected to most rigorous

supervision for six weeks, locked in a room and

guarded and watched by sisters who never left

her. At the beginning of the experiment she

weighed 113 pounds; at the end, in the presence

of the Bishop of Ottawa, her weight had reached

124 pounds. The venerable Dr. Landry,

Professor at the Faculty of Medicine of Quebec,

who came to Royau in 1880, also testified to this

in the presence of Dr. Imbert” (Farges, 1926,

quoted in Gowan, 1980, p. 186).

The case of Therese Neumann. The more astonishing

the claim, the greater the mistrust, suspicion, and disbelief

was provoked, the more critical and severe was the

investigation by the Church (Murphy, 1992, pp. 502-505).

When the local bishop in Regensburg heard of Therese

Neumann‟s inedia, he sent a commission in 1927 to her

home to observe her. According to Talbot‟s (1991)

account:

“From July 14, 1927, to July 29, 1927, and under

the supervision of a medical doctor names

Seidle, four Franciscan nursing sisters

scrutinized her every move. They watched her

day and night, and the water she used for

washing and rinsing her mouth was carefully

measured and weighed. The sisters discovered

several unusual things about Neumann. She

never went to the bathroom (even after a period

of six weeks she had only one bowel movement,

and the excrement, examined by a Dr.

Reismanns, contained only a small amount of

mucus and bile, but no traces of food). She also

showed no signs of dehydration….And her

weight remained constant; although she lost

nearly nine pounds (in blood) during the weekly

opening of her stigmata, her weight retuned to

normal within a day or two later. At the end of

the inquiry Dr. Seidl and the sisters were

completely convinced that Neumann had not

eaten or drunk a thing for the entire fourteen

days…Yet this was nothing for Neumann; she

did not eat or drink a thing for the next thirty-

five years” (Talbot, 1991, p. 153).

Access to superordinary energies? Apparently it is true

that “Man shall not live by bread” (Matthew 4:4), but by

some other subtle form of energy that flows into the

human body to sustain it . Therese Neumann referred to

this energy as “God‟s light” or the Holy Ghost that

divinely upholds all creation; Yogonanda refers to this

invisible energy as “vibratory cosmic universal life

energy” (Aum) . Theresa claimed the energy flowed into

her body from the sun and air; Yoananda says it enters

through the sixth spinal charka (Sanskrit for “wheel” or

center of radiating life force) located at the back of the

neck and the medulla oblongata and that is directly

connected with the Christ Consciousness center

(Kutastha) located in the so-called third eye between the

eye-brows. According to Murphy‟s (1992) account:

“Conceivably, the body has access to

superordinary energies that can be triggered by

religious passion. Though most people who have

fasted for long periods have been sendentary or

bedridden, some have been physically active.

Heroic fasting suggests that the body can

reconstitute its elements in extraordinary ways,

dramatically altering its habitual physiological

activity” (p. 505)


40

Invulnerability to Injury

The Jansenist miracles of 18th century France.

Although not one of the charisms listed by the New

Catholic Encyclopedia, the extraordinary psychophysical

phenomena of “invulnerability to injury” can be regarded

as another indication of the transpersonal nature of the

physical body.

The phenomenon occurred in the late eighteen century

and centered on the grave site of Francois de Paris, a

saintly and revered deacon of the puritanical sect of

Roman Catholicism known as Jansenisn. Jansenism was a

popular religious movement of the early seventeenth

century whose leaders were renowned for perform

miraculous healings. Shortly after Francois de Paris was

buried in the parish cemetery of Saint-Medard, Paris, on

May 1, 1727, miraculous healings began to occur near the

tomb in which the lame walked, the blind could see, and

the deaf could hear.

The mourning worshippers at the tomb soon began to

experience another extraordinary phenomenon – a fitful

and trancelike state of involuntary spasms and

convulsions during which they were impervious to

physical harm, including injury by fire, cuts or punctures

with knives, swords, and hatches, strangulation, blows by

metal rods and chains, and a host of other tortures. The

frenzied gatherings, occurring day and night, were

observed by thousands of witnesses from all over Europe

for several years. They even drew the international

attention of Scottish philosopher David Hume who wrote

in his Philosophical Essays:

“There surely never were so great a number of

miracles ascribed to one person as those which

were lately said to have been wrought in France

upon the tomb of Abbe Paris. Many of the

miracles were immediately proved upon the spot,

before judges of unquestioned credit and

distinction, in a learned age, and on the most

eminent theatre that is now in the world.”

Two accounts of invulnerability to injury. Michael

Talbot (1991) summarizes particularly two fascinating

accounts published in 1737 by a member of the Paris

Parliament named Louis-Basile Carre de Montgeron who

wrote four volumes about the miracles he witnessed near

Abbe Paris‟s tomb in a book titled La Verite des Miracles

“In one instance a twenty-year-old convulsionaire

named Jeanne Maulet leaned against a stone wall

while a volunteer from the crowd, „a very strong

man,‟ delivered one hundred blows to her

stomach with a thirty-pound hammer (the

convulsionaries themselves asked to be tortured

because they said it relieved the excruciating

pain of the convulsions). To test the force of the

blows, Montgeron himself took the hammer and

tried it on the stone wall against which the girl

had leaned. He wrote, “At the twenty-fifth blow

the stone upon which I struck, which had been

shaken by the preceding efforts, suddenly

became loose and fell on the other side of the

wall, making an aperture more than a foot in

size” (Talbot, 1991, p. 130).

“Montgeron describes another instance in which

a convulsionaire bent back into an arc so that her

lower back was supported by “the sharp point of

a peg.” She then asked that a fifty-pound stone

attached to a rope be hoisted to „an extreme

height‟ and allowed to fall will all its weight on

her stomach. The stone was hoisted up and

allowed to fall again and again, but the women

seemed completely unaffected by it. She

effortlessly maintained her awkward position,

suffered no pain or harm, and walked away from

the ordeal without even so much as a mark on

the flesh of her back. Montgeron noted that while

the ordeal was in progress she kept crying out,

“Strike harder, harder.” (Talbot, 1991, p. 130)

A more detailed historical account of the mind-boggling

events of healings, invulnerability to torture, fire

immunity, clairvoyance, and instances of levitation

reported to occur at the tomb of Francois de Paris in the

cemetery of Saint-Medard can be found in Robert

Kreiser‟s 1978 book Miracle, Convulsions, and

Ecclesiastical Politics in Early Eighteenth-Century Paris.


41

Physical Materializations

Another phenomena often associated with saints in

Western and Eastern religions is materializations (the

ability to materialize physical objects out of thin air) and

bilocation (the ability to instantaneously transport one‟s

body from one distant location to another). Michael

Murphy in his 1992 book The Future of the Body

discusses those charisms for which “there can be no

reasonable doubt” (e.g., stigmata, inedia, luminous

phenomena, incendium amoris, odors of sanctity and holy

body fluids, incorruption, bodily elongation, levitation,

telekinesis, extrasensory powers, immobility of the limbs

and diminution of the senses in ecstatic rapture), but

considers bilocation “impossible” and thus overlooks it in

his treatment of the charisms of Catholic saints and

mystics (Murphy, 1992, p. 484). Two case studies are

described below: the holy man Sri Sathya Sai Baba and

the psychic D.D. Home

Modern miracles: The case of Sri Sathya Sai Baba. One of the more remarkable modern-day cases of

materialization and bilocation on record are those

produced by the Hindu holy man (“baba” and religious

leader Sri Sathya Sai Baba (1926-present). Born in the

small remote village of Puttaparti, in Southern India,

Sathyanarayana Ratnakara Raju (a.k.a. Sathya Sai Baba)

has been performing extraordinary feats of

materializations ever since recovering from a near fatal

scorpion sting at the age of 14. Out-of-doors, in full

daylight, and observed by literally thousands of witnesses

including magicians, scientists, highly educated

physicians, governors, judges, college professors, Sai

Baba has materialized a range of materials including

lockets, pendants, rings, finely crafted jewelry, Indian

delicacies and sweets, vibuti (sacramental ash), amrith (a

honey-like substance) in vast quantities many times a day

in various locations over the past 60 years without anyone

ever detecting a hint of deceit, fraud, or trickery.

Haraldsson’s scientific report of Sai Baba. A rigorous

scientific report of extensive interviews of various

witnesses of the paranormal phenomena performed by

Sai Baba, supported by contemporary documents, dairies

and letters to support the eyewitness testimony is

provided by Elendur Haraldsson, professor of psychology

at the University of Iceland, in his 1987 book, Modern

Miracles: An Investigative Report on Psychic Phenomena

Asscoiated with Sathya Sai Baba., According to Karlis

Osis, Research Fellow at the American Society for

Psychical Research, who also investigated claims of Sai

Baba‟s translocation of his body and of other objects and

substances, declares that “the stories of Baba‟s

paranormal phenomena describe powers of a magnitude,

variety, and sustained frequency not encountered

anywhere else in the modern world” ( Haraldsson, 1987,

p. 9). According to Haraldsson‟s account: “Many of these

alleged miracles, we are told, resembled those we read

about in the New Testament, such as multiplication of

food, „changing of water into wine,‟ wonderous healings,

and the reading of a person‟s innermost thoughts at a first

meeting” (p. 14).

Materializations of assorted objects “out of thin air.”

Unlike the short-lived materializations attributed to the

physical mediums of the 19th and early 20th century such

as D. D. Home and Indridi Indridason, Sai Baba‟s

materializations remain as solid objects, appearing out the

swami‟s bare hand, except on the few occasions when he

apparently caused them to disappear.

“Practically all who have met Baba believed they

had observed materializations, and most had a

locket or a ring of some kind they were proud to

show us. Each treasure had reportedly appeared

out the swami‟s bare hand, and he had made a

present of it to them. These objects were varied

and made of a range of materials, including gold

and precious stones, some of the pieces being

jewellery of exquisite quality” (Haraldsson,

1987, p. 29).

Materialized objects have consisted of both inorganic and

organic (plant) material. They are produced invariably in

full daylight or under normal lighting conditions.

The charism of agility. Some observers have witnessed

Sai Baba controlling the rain, levitating, appearing to

groups of people at two different places at the same time,

and suddenly disappearing at one place and almost

instantaneously at another. For instance, one witnessed

reported the following incident:

“As we were approaching the river and passing a

hill on our right side, he (Baba) would

sometimes suddenly disappear. He would, for

example, snap his fingers and ask those around

him to do the same. And hardly had we snapped

our fingers when he vanished from amongst us

and we could see him on top of the hill waiting

for us” (Haraldsson, 1987, p. 258)

Tranformation of matter.Baba has reportedly changed

water into sweet liquids, changed water into petrol,

changed leaves or pebbles into toffees and lockets, coffee

into milk, sand into bronze figurines, pieces of granite

into sugar-candy, and a stone into an apple. For instance,

one witness reported:


42

“In full daylight at Horseley Hills, Baba gave me a

rather flat stone of irregular size and asked me to

throw it up in the air. I threw it high up, and he

asked me to catch it when it came down. I was

afraid the stone might hurt my hands. By the

time I caught it, it was an apple. I gave the apple

to Swami, who took a knife and cut it into

pieces, and everyone got a piece of the size into

which we normally cut apples. From this one

apple he gave pieces to some 25 people. This

was a medium-size apple; normally it might have

sufficed for 8 to 10 people” (Haraldsson, 1987,

p. 222).

Multiplying food. Witnesses report his multiplying food

– both hot and scold, solid and fluid, homemade and even

factory-produced - for large groups of people at a time.

For instance,

“Usually, after a namkara [a name-giving

ceremony for a newborn baby], it is auspicious

to distribute some sweets. After producing the

pendant (a golden medallion with a chian given

to the baby), Baba called my wife over, saying:

„Let‟s have some sweets.‟ He asked her to spread

her palms to form a cup. Baba rubbed his palms

together above hers and filled up both her hands

with a powerlike sweet that we call crushed

ladus. It took only a few seconds, and there was

so much of it that it was pouring out of his hands

like rain, making a mound perhaps half an inch

higher than the upper part of her palms. Baba

went around and distributed the sweet to the five

or six people who were also present. There was

enough for everyone, and a little more besides,

so when he came to my wife, he told her: „See, a

double share for you.‟ It tasted very good”

(Haraldsson, 1987, p. 211).

Action-at-a-distance. Objects or materials inexplicably

appear from Sai baba‟s hands, forehead, mouth, and feet.

There is also some evidence that objects appear at some

distance from him (e.g., when he tells a person to pick an

apple from a nearby tamarind tree and the individual finds

an apple on a branch of that tree). Vibuti has appeared in

distant places, such as on photographs of Sai Baba that

hung on walls or that stand on tables in private homes, in

some cases oozing out of the photo on and off for several

months.

The case of Daniel Douglas Home It was mentioned

previously that “nearly all of the miracles performed by

saints and wonder-workers of the world‟s great religions

have also been duplicated by psychics” (Talbot, 1991, p.

120). Of course, just because one action (e.g., psychic

surgery, levitation, telepathic impressions) can be

duplicated by a magician through hidden gizmos,

diversion techniques, and sleight-of-hand does not mean

that that is how the psychic surgeon or levitator or

clairvoyant accomplishes the feat any more than a

computer program that simulates human problem solving

explains how human problem solving occurs in the work-

a-day world. To believe otherwise is to assume that the

simulation is the real thing, that the model is the thing

modeled, that the translation is the original meaning, that

the appearance is the reality. Whatever the mechanism

behind the production of charisms, comparisons between

the miracles performed by saints and the phenomena

performed by gifted psychics, are informative.

Never detected in fraud of any kind. One of the most

extensively studied physical mediums of the nineteenth

century was Daniel Douglas Home (1833-1886) for

whom a great deal of outstanding evidence from many

different sources (domestic and foreign) has been

generated documenting remarkable phenomena that he

produced under a wide range of conditions in locations he

never visited before and in other settings where he had no

opportunity to prepare a trick, plant an apparatus, or

conceal a confederate and that exceeded any technology

of the period (e.g., levitating in good light and with ample

opportunity to inspect him before, during, and after the

levitation). “During the entire period of D. D. Home‟s

mediumship – a period of almost 25 years – he was never

detected in fraud of any kind,” despite careful efforts to

expose them or prevent them by Nobel laureates, judges,

university professors, magicians, medical doctors,

government officials, members of the Royal Society,

skeptics, and persistent critics (Braude, 1997, p. 65).

Catalogue of phenomena. Stephen E. Braude in his 1997

book The Limits of Influence: Psychokinesis and the

Philosophy of Science, catalogues the mind-boggling

physical phenomena manifested by D.D. Home during his

25 years has a medium (and excluding the healings,

messages from spirits, and trance-impersonations of dead

persons known only to the sitters) (Braude, 1997, pp. 65-

66)

1) Raps, or knocking sounds, heard not just in the

séance table, but in all parts of the room,

including the ceiling.

2) Object levitations and movements, including the

complete levitation of pianos and the movement

and complete levitation of tables with several

persons on top.


43

3) Tables would tilt or move sharply, although

objects on the table would remain stationary.

Sometimes the objects would alternatively move

and remain in place in response to sitter‟s

commands.

4) Alteration in the weight of objects. On

command, objects would become heavier or

lighter. Before Crookes measured the

phenomenon with instruments, its typical

manifestation was that a table would become

either too heavy for one or more persons to tilt or

lift, or at least more difficult to move than it was

before.

5) The appearance of lights or luminous phenomena

in various parts of the room.

6) The appearance of partially or fully materialized

forms in various parts of the room.

7) Touches, pulls, pinches, and other tactile

phenomena occurring while the hands of all

present were visible above the table.

8) Auditory phenomena (e.g., voice, sounds), and

also music occurring without instruments in

various parts of the room.Odors, produced in the

absence of any visible object with which they

might be associated.

9) Earthquake effects, during which the entire room

and its contents rock or tremble.

10) Hands, supple, solid, mobile and warm, of

different sizes, shapes and colors. Although the

hands were animated and solid to the touch, they

would often end at or near the wrist and

eventually dissolve or melt. Sometimes the

hands were said to be disfigured exactly as the

hands of a deceased ostensible communicator

(unknown to Home) had been.

11) The playing of an accordion, guitar, or other

musical instrument, either totally untouched (and

sometimes while levitated in good light), or

while handled in such a way as to render a

musical performance on the instrument

impossible.

12) The handling of hot coals, and the transfer of

incombustibility to other persons and objects.

13) Elongations, in which the medium grew from

several inches to more than a foot.

14) Levitation of the medium. This is perhaps the

least well documented of Home‟s major

phenomena, occurring (according to Home

himself) only once in daylight.

Two unusual feats of body alteration related to Christian

charisms will be briefly mentioned: elongation and body

incombustibility.

“Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit to

your stature? (Matt. 6:27). Bodily elongation is a feat

that has been performed by both holy and profane

individuals and written about in both Hindu sources

(elongation is a “siddhi” or paranormal ability described

in Pantanjali‟s Yoga Sutras) and Christian sources (Fodor,

1966). Charles Richet, professor of physiology at the

Faculty of Medicine in Paris and President of the Society

for Psychical Research in 1895, reports in his 1923 book

Thirty Years of Psychical Research reports that D.D.

Home was able to perform this feat that had been

witnessed by at least 50 people. Richet reported one

particular episode: “That day Home‟s body was

elongated… His ordinary height is five feet eight inches;

he elongated to six feet five and one-half inches” (Richet,

1923, p. 486). Richet quotes from the first-hand

eyewitness account of Lord Adare, son of the Earl of

Dunraven, who observed the event that day:

“Levitations were frequent, and still more frequent

the elongations, this latter a singular phenomena

very susceptible of mistake, for which we have

no parallel. Home was placed against the wall,

Adare being in front of him; then his arms

seemed to lengthen and his breast to swell.

Home said to me, „Adare, you see the extension

is from the chest.‟ He again placed himself

against the wall and extended his arms to their

ordinary stretch. I made a pencil mark on the

wall at the ends of his fingers. He then

lengthened his left arm and I made a fresh mark;

then his right arm, which I also marked. The

total elongation, measured in this way, was nine

and one-half inches” (Richet, 1923, p. 486).

Body incombustibility. The ability of bodies to

withstand the natural laws of combustibility (also called

“fire immunity”) was described previously. “Among

mediums none was more famous for handling fire with

impunity than D.D. Home” (Fodor, 1966, p. 139). Sir

William Crooks (1832-1919), President of the Royal

Society, discoverer of the chemical element thallium,

inventory of the radiometer and a form of the cathode ray

tube called the “Crookes tube,” was one of the nineteenth

century‟s greatest physicists. Crooks witnessed Home

handling fire on two or three occasions. On one occasion,

also witnessed by Sir W. Huggins, a former present of the

Royal Society, Crooks reports the following event after

some accordion phenomena, a table levitation, and other

manifestations


44

“Mr Home again went to the fire, and after

stirring the hot coals about with his hand, took

out a red-hot piece nearly as big as an orange,

and putting it on his right hand, covered it over

with his left hand so as to almost completely

enclose it, and then blew into the small furnace

thus extemporized until the lump of charcoal was

nearly white-hot, and then drew my attention to

the lambent flame which was flickering over the

coal and licking around his fingers; he fell on his

knees, looked up in a reverent manner, held up

the coal in front and said: “Is not God good? Are

not His laws wonderful? (quoted in Braude,

1997, p. 79).

Birthmarks Suggestive of Reincarnation

Where reincarnation and biology meet. In his two-

volume, 2,080-page monograph titled Reincarnation and

Biology: A Contribution to the Etiology of Birthmarks and

Birth Defects, Ian Stevenson, professor of psychiatry and

director of the Division of Personality Studies at the

Health Sciences Center at the University of Virginia,

reports on 225 highly detailed case studies correlating

birthmarks and other physiological manifestations (e.g.,

birth defect) with children‟s experiences of remembered

past life events, particularly violent death (Stevenson,

1997a). A concise 240-page summary (including

photographs) of 112 of those cases is provided by

Stevenson in his book Where Reincarnation and Biology

Intersect (Stevenson, 1997b).

Why birthmark evidence is important to the case for

reincarnation. Stevenson has collected over 2,600

reported cases of past-life memories of which 85 detailed

reports have been published. Children who claim to

remember a previous life have been found all over the

world: many in Hindu and Buddhist countries of South

Asia, Shiite peoples of Lebannon and Turkey, and

indigenous tribes of West Africa and northwestern North

America; fewer in Europe, the United States, and Canada.

Stevenson (1997b) asserts that cases involving birthmarks

(that differ noticeably from the kind of birthmark that

almost everyone has) and birth defects are especially

important for the following three reasons (pp.2-3):

1) The birthmarks and birth defects provide an

objective type of evidence well above that which

depends on the fallible memories of informants.

“For many of the cases, we have a medical

document, usually a port-mortem report, that

gives us a written confirmation of the

correspondence between the birthmark (or birth

defect) and the wound on the deceased person

whose life the child, when it can speak, will

usually claim to remember” (Stevenson, 1997b,

p. 2).

2) The birthmarks and birth defects derive

importance from the evidence they provide that a

decreased personality – having survived death –

may influence the form of a later-born baby.

3) The cases with birthmarks and birth defects

provide a better explanation than any other now

available [e.g., genetic factors, viral infections,

chemicals, chance, postnatal environment] about

why some persons have birth defects when most

do not and for why some persons have birth

defects have theirs in a particular location

instead of elsewhere.

Key features of cases suggestive of reincarnation. Stevenson (1997b) describes how a case suggestive of

reincarnation typically develops. A case may begin when

a dying person expresses a wish to be reborn to a

particular couple (prediction of rebirth), or when a person

has a dream in which a deceased person appears and

announces an intention to be reborn to particular parents

(announcing dream). Shortly after the baby is born, its

parents immediately notice the presence of a major

birthmark.Soon after the child begins to speak, usually

between the age of 2 and 4 years old, he or she speaks

about a previous life, and continues to do so until he or

she is about 5 to 8 years old, at which time the memories

usually begin to fade away (or at least stops talking about

them). Other key feature that vary from one culture to

another are noted by Stevenson (1997b, pp.5-9)

Emotion intensity of memories. “Most of the

children speak about the previous life with an

intensity, even with strong emotion, that

surprises the adults around them. Many of them

do not at first distinguish past from present, and

they may use the present tense in reference to the

previous life” (p. 5).

Death recall /family recognition “The content

of what the child states nearly always includes

some account of the death in the previous life.

This is particularly true if the death was violent,

but occurs also – less frequently – when it was

natural. Beyond that, the child usually speaks

about the family of the previous life” (p. 5).

Person recognition. “If the child has given

sufficient and adequately specific details,

especially of proper names and places, it is

usually possible to identify a decreased person

the facts of whose life closely matches the

child‟s statements” (p. 6)


45

Object recognition. “The child may also

recognize spontaneously (or on request) various

persons, objects, and places known to the

previous personality” (p. 6).

Behavioral memory. “The child displays

unusual behavior… that is unusual for the child‟s

family, but harmonious with what can be known

or conjectured about the person of whom the

child speaks” (p. 7).

Phobias. “Phobias, nearly always related to the

mode of death in the previous life, occur in about

35% of the cases” (p. 7), often lasting into

adulthood after the child can no longer remember

memories of a prior life.

Philias. “Pilias take the form of a desire or

demand for particular foods (not eaten in the

subject‟s family) or for clothes different from

those customarily worn by the family

members…also…cravings for addicting

substances, such a tobacco, alcohol, and other

drugs that the previous personality was known to

have used” (p. 7), also often lasting into

adulthood after memories of a previous life have

faded.

Skills. “A few subjects show skills that they

have not been taught (or sufficiently watched

others demonstrating, but which the previous

personality was known to have had” (p. 7)

Sex-change types. “In cases of what we call the

„sex-change‟ type, the child says it remembers a

previous life as a person of the opposite sex.

Such children almost invariably show traits of

the sex of the claimed previous life. They cross-

dress, play the games of the opposite sex, and

may otherwise show attitudes characteristics of

that sex” (p. 7).

Unusual behaviors. “Particularly vivid

examples of unusual behavior occur in subjects

who claim to remember previous lives as natives

of a country different from that of their parents”

(e.g., Burmese children who claim to have been

Japanese soldiers killed in Burma during World

War II displaying traits typical of Japanese

people but not Burmese people) (p. 8).

Nature of the death “The deaths remembered

by the children are predominantly violent. The

overall percentage of violent deaths in the

previous life is 51%... [This] percentage far

exceeds those of violent death in the general

population of the countries where the cases

occur” (p. 8).

Persons connected with the death. “The

children often remember the others persons

concerned in the death – usually murderers. The

children often show strong animosities and

attitudes of vengefulness toward these persons,

especially if they happen to meet them. The

animosity may generalize to other members of

the same group” (p. 8).

Play activity. “Many of the children express

memories of the previous life in their play”(e.g.,

assuming the role during play activity of a school

teacher or a garage mechanic whose life they

remember)…A few children enact in their play

the mode of death in the previous life” (e.g., play

at drowning) (p. 8).

Interval between death and rebirth. “The

range in the median length of the interval

between the previous personality‟s death and the

subject‟s birth extends from only 4 months

among the Haida of northwestern North America

to 34 months among the Igbo of Nigeria” (p. 9).

Characteristics of birthmarks. “Birthmarks

differ from ordinary nevi in various

ways…[especially] when we consider the cases

of correspondences between two birthmarks and

two wounds…Many of these (and other)

birthmarks have unusual details in which they

correspond to details of a relevant wound” (pp.

110-111).

How a case is investigated. When Stevenson

investigates a case, he begins with an a series of

interviews of the subject (i.e., the child if he or she will

talk with him or who may be adult at the time of the

interview), his or her parents, and other informed persons

who can provide firsthand testimony about the subject‟s

statements and any unusual behavior (e.g., older siblings,

grandparents, teachers). Birthmarks or birth defects are

examined, sketched, and photographed. Written

documents are obtained to provide exact records of dates

(e.g., birth certificate, identity cards, diaries, horoscopes).

Next the family of the claimed previous life is

interviewed in a similar fashion who must be firsthand

witnesses of what they describe and to ascertain any

previous acquaintance between the two families or the

possibility of some mutual acquaintance. In cases with

birthmarks and birth defects, postmortem reports and

other documents are obtained to establish the location of

the wounds on the deceased person of the claimed

previous life.


46

Reincarnation is the best explanation. After normal

(and paranormal) explanations for the case are

systematically evaluated and ruled out (e.g., mistaken

identification of the decreased person, chance

correspondence of wound with birthmark, presence of a

similar birth mark or birth defect in the family, the two

families had knowledge of or contact with each other

before the case developed, the child shows ability for

extrasensory perception of the magnitude necessary for

obtaining their information in this way, informants‟

descriptions of events are inaccurate, unusual behaviors or

identity is imposed by the parents on the child to explain

the birthmark, etc.), “the [indisputable] correspondence

between wounds and birthmarks and the child‟s correct

statements about the life of the deceased person usually

leave no doubt that the correct previous personality has

been identified” (Stevenson, 1997b, p. 11). Stevenson

concludes:

“I believe…that reincarnation is the best

explanation for the stronger cases, by which I

means those in which the two families were

unacquainted before the case developed. It may

well be the best explanation for many other cases

also. Yet in saying that I think reincarnation is

the best explanation for many cases, I do not

claim that it is the only explanation. Further

research may show that it is not even the best

one. This is a matter about which my opinion

should count for little. I regard my contribution

as that of presenting the evidence as clearly as I

can. Each reader should study the evidence

carefully – preferably in the monograph- and

then reach his or her own conclusion”

(Stevenson, 1997b, pp. 112-113).

What Does It All Mean?

This chapter briefly reviewed some of the best scientific

evidence for the existence of the following mind-body

phenomena:

Placebo effect

Imagery healing

Biofeedback

Hypnosis

Cultural beliefs and personal attitudes

Acts of will

Multiple Personality Disorder

Spontaneous remissions

Miraculous cures

Intercessory Prayer

Stigmata

Blood prodigies

Body incombustibility

Inedia

Invulnerability to injury

Physical materialization

Body elongation

Birthmarks suggestive of reincarnation

Scientific evidence for the power of the mind – using the

placebo effect, visualization, biofeedback, hypnosis, and

cultural training and socialization – to affect bodily

processes is extensive and is relatively accepted by open-

minded transpersonal psychologists, psychiatrists, and

medical researchers.

The ability of some individuals to alter the so-called

“laws” of physics when they display extraordinary

psychophysical plasticity in MPD, heal themselves

spontaneously or “miraculously,” alter parts of the body

to make them conform to the wounds of the Crucifixion,

make themselves immune to fire, able to live for years

without eating or drinking, invulnerable to physical

injury, materialize organic and inorganic objects “out of

nothing”, and elongate their body provides some

indication of the degree to which mental images in a

person‟s mind may affect changes one‟s own physical

body.

Blood prodigies, intercessory prayer and birthmarks

suggestive of reincarnation provide an indication that

mental images in one person‟s mind may affect changes

in another person‟s body and require further

understanding and, perhaps, a new model of the nature of

physical reality and human personality action.


47

The Physical Reality of Thought.

Most college students learn about the physical reality of

thought and emotion in the biological chapters of general

psychology textbooks that describe the electrical and

chemical foundations of experience and behavior (i.e., the

structure of neurons, how neurons communicate, neural

and hormonal systems, brain structures and functions, and

how neurotransmitters influence attention, thoughts,

emotions, and behavior). They learn how the smallest

neuron within our body contributes to our psychological

and emotional experience. They learn how “our proud

human consciousness rests upon the vast „unconscious‟

integrity of our physical being” (Roberts, 1981b, p. 31).

They also learn about health psychology and how

psychological and behavioral factors directly and

indirectly influence physical health and illness. They may

learn, for instance, how the behavior of aerobic exercise

(jogging) reduces the psychological experience of

depression by its direct physiological effect on the

autonomic nervous system (increasing arousal) and

neurotransmitters (increasing serotonin levels) (Jacobs,

1994). Most of us are aware how physical reactions

influence psychological states as anyone who drinks

alcohol, takes psychotherapeutic drugs, or eaten a

satisfying meal can testify.

The interaction of thought and body. Students of

psychology also learn that is not just that thoughts and

emotions have an electrical and chemical reality in

addition to their recognized mental aspects, as of course

they do, but that thoughts and emotions also trigger

electrical and chemical reactions in the body. Each one of

our thoughts and emotions represent a an eliciting

stimulus that trigger our physical actions, directly

affecting the behavior of our body, bringing about

changes in our autonomic nervous system, through its

sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions, and in the

glands of our endocrine system, altering our entire

physical body at any given time. Our bodies are changed

biologically by our thoughts, as anyone has felt nervous

over an upcoming exam, anxious about a public

presentation, or upset over an argument with a friend can

testify. The body responds to our thoughts, feelings, and

beliefs that form the interior environment of concepts.

Dreams and thoughts and psychological experiences all

have an electrical and chemical reality that becomes

retained in electrically and chemically coded data within

the cells. This means thoughts interact with the body and

become part of it.

The transactional relationship between body mind and

mind body operates according to what Elmer Green,

pioneer in the development of proprioceptive feedback

theory and biofeedback techniques, called the

“psychophysiological principle:”

Every change in the physiological state is

accompanied by an appropriate change in the

mental-emotional state, conscious or

unconscious, and conversely, every change in the


unconscious, is accompanied by an appropriate

change in the physiological state (Green, Green,

& Walters, 1970, p. 3)

In other words, the effects of the body are felt in the mind

and the effects of the mind are felt in the body.

According to Elmer Green and associates, it is the

psychophysiological principle that makes psychosomatic

self-regulation possible. It is also what made Mr.

Wright‟s placebo healing response possible as well.

As electrical and chemical actions, thoughts and emotions

directly affect the physical health of the body system.

Beliefs that foster apathy, despair, or hopelessness are

biologically destructive, causing the body to

automatically suppress the immune system and lower

bodily defenses, change body chemistry and alter

hormonal balances, stressing the body‟s vitality and

natural defense system and initiating disease conditions

(Herbert & Cohen, 1993). Health psychology shows that

how we physiologically react to environmental stressors

depends on how we psychologically appraise them which,

in turn, influences how we behaviorally cope with them

(Lazarus & Folkman, 1984).

How one responds – intellectually, emotionally,

or spiritually – to one‟s problems has a great deal

to do with the way the human body functions.

One‟s confidence or lack of it, in the prospects of

recovery from serious illness affects the

chemistry of the body. The belief system

converts hope, robust expectations, and the will

to live into plus factors in any contest of forces

involving disease (Cousins, 1981, p. 205)


48

In terms of the body‟s health and illness, then, our mental

states are indeed highly important. A person‟s private

experience of health and illness occurs not only within the

context of his or her personality type, personal habits, and

levels of social support (Taylor, 2002), but basically

cannot be separated from the larger framework of his or

her philosophic and religious beliefs, cultural and political

environment, psychological and sociological status. The

individual‟s personal experience of health and illness

must be viewed in the light of all these issues. The

question of health and illness simply cannot be answered

from a biological standpoint.

Our spiritual and psychological abilities add a dimension

to our life and experience that is biologically pertinent.

Placebos demonstrate that there is no real separation

between mind and body. Our mind is as natural as our

body; our body is as spiritual as our mind. Body and spirit

dwell in a natural framework. Your thoughts and

emotions are as natural as the cells within your body, as

any portion of your body, and as real. Our thoughts and

emotions are a part of nature and not apart from nature

Do not think of the mind as a purely mental

entity and of the body as a purely physical one.

Instead, think of both mind and body as

continuing, interweaving processes that are

mental and physical at once. Your thoughts

actually are quite as physical as your body is,

and your body is quite as nonphysical as it seems

to you‟re your thoughts are. You are actually a

vital force, existing as part of your environment,

and yet apart from your environment at the same

time (Roberts, 1997, p. 131).

A transpersonal psychology of mind-body communication

and healing recognizes that the same power that moves

your mind forms your body. It acknowledges that there is

no difference between the energy that shapes your ideas

and that heals your finger. Consciousness is not limited

within the skull but circulates throughout the entire body.

You don‟t just have a body, you are your body. Your

body is your spirit in flesh The spirit speaks with a

physical voice and the physical body is a creation of the

spirit. While we are physical creatures in the three-

dimensional world of time and space; there is no division

between the mental and the physical.


49

PNI

Through what biological pathways do these

psychodynamic, cognitive, environmental and

phenomenological variables work their magic? The

biological approach called psycho-neuro-immunology

(PNI) that specializes in the study of the interactions

between the mind (psycho-), central nervous system

(neuro-), and the immune system (immunology) provides

some answers.

Figure 2-3 summarizes seven kinds of experimental

evidence that identify specific linkages among behavioral,

neural, endocrine, and immune functions by which mind

modulation of body functions is thought to occur (Adler,

Felton, & Cohen, 2000).

Figure 2-12

Evidence for Mind-Body Communication in the

Immune System

The findings of psychoneuroimmunology and

related fields reveal: (1) the highly interactive,

feedback-laced nature of psychophysiological

functioning; (2) multiple ways in which

particular alterations of consciousness, behavior,

bodily structure and processes are mediated; and

(3) the immense specificity with which

significant changes are happening, moment by

moment, throughout the nervous, endocrine, and

immune systems (Murphy, 1992, p. 23).

PNI documents how mind and body operate as a single,

integrated system. It indicates possible physical

mechanisms and pathways by which mind-body

communication and healing may occur. It helps us

understand how Mr. Wright‟s autonomic-endocrine-

immune systems could be activated by his belief in a cure

and reveals human nature‟s capacity for creative,

transformative change with appropriate focus and belief.

Psychoneuroimmunology.. Psychoneuroimmunology

(PNI) has demonstrated the existence of bidirectional

communication pathways between the central nervous

system (the brain via the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal

axis) and the body‟s immune system, involving responses

of many cells to multiple stimuli, with each providing

important regulatory control over the other (Ader et al.,

2000). The observation that various stresses (such as final

examinations) can alter immune system functioning

indicates that biochemical links established between the

immune and nervous systems are also pathways for inner

communication of thoughts, feelings, expectations,

desires, fears, and beliefs. The establishment of a

reciprocal relationship between the immune system and

behavioral, psychological, and social factors have

involved numerous academic disciplines working in

collaboration, including: biochemistry, biophysics,

endocrinology, immunology, microbiology, neurobiology,

neuropharmacology, pathology, physiology, psychiatry,

and psychology. A number of diverse strategies have

generally proven to have a positive effect in modulating

immune function response, including relaxation,

hypnosis, exercise, classical conditioning, self-disclosure,

perceived coping self-efficacy, and cognitive-behavioral

interventions (Kiecolt-Glaser & Glaser, 1992).

Modern research in psycho-neuro-immunology (PNI) has

discovered that body tissues and organs distant from the

brain produce and have receptors for brain

neurotransmitters (e.g., endorphins originally thought to

be present only in the brain are produced by various parts

of the body that have receptors to receive them as well)

(Pert, 1997). Such discoveries coupled with the evidence

of human transformative capacity in studies of hypnosis,

the placebo effect, multiple personalities, spiritual and

miraculous healing indicate that a strong distinction

between the brain and the body is no longer tenable.

Candace Pert, research professor at the department of

physiology and biophysics at Georgetown University

Medical Center has written that there is a “need to start

thinking about how consciousness can be projected into

various parts of the body” (Pert, 1986, p. 16).

New work is now in progress that does not regard

religious belief or placebos simply as mere “artifact”

variables in investigations of healing whose effects are to

be minimized or controlled but are instead to be

understood and used (e.g., Sobel, 1990).

The American Psychologist in 2003, for instance,

published a series of articles summarizing

scientific research on the effects of religious

belief on health (Miller & Thoresen, 2003;

Powell, Shahabi, & Thoresen, 2003; Seeman,

Dubin, & Seeman, 2003; Hill & Pargament,

2003).

Physician Larry Dossey in his 1993 book

Healing Words: The Power of Prayer and the

Practice of Medicine documents controlled

scientific experiments that strongly support the

power of prayer to positively affect at a distant

high blood pressure, heart attacks, head aches,

and anxiety, including the activity of enzymes,

growth rates of leukemic white blood cells,

mutation rates of bacteria, germination of seeds

and growth rates of plants, firing rate of

pacemaker cells, healing rates of wounds, the

size of tumors, time requires to awaken from

anesthesia, and hemoglobin levels and rates of

hemolysis of red blood cells.


50

Figure 2-12. Evidence for Mind-Body Communication in the Immune System (adapted from Ader, Felton, & Cohen, 2000; Rossi, 1986, pp. 152-155)

Neuroanatomic and neurochemical evidence for the stimulation of lymphoid tissue (bone marrow,

thymus gland, spleen, tonsils, lymph nodes, etc.). through the action of neurons of the sympathetic

nervous system, that portion of the autonomic nervous system that is responsible for arousing the

body and mobilizing its energy in stressful situations. This sympathetic innervation of primary and

secondary lymphoid organs means that mind (via the central nervous system) has direct physical

access for influencing all organs of the immune system.

Observations that destroying or electrically stimulating areas within the hypothalamus result in

activation of the immune system, and conversely, activation of the immune system results in

inhibition or stimulation of the hypothalamus. Since the hypothalamus directs body maintenance

activities (eating, drinking, body temperature, sexual arousal, heart rate, blood pressure), helps

govern the endocrine system via the pituitary gland, and is linked to emotion and regulated by

higher brain centers via connections with the limbic system, the intercommunications between the

immune system and the hypothalamus may be open to influence by the mind.

Evidence that white blood cells of the immune system called lymphocytes bear receptor sites both

for a variety of hormones that are secreted into the bloodstream by the endocrine system and for

neurotransmitters that transmit neural impulses within the autonomic nervous system which

controls the glands and muscles of internal organs. There is also evidence that lymphocytes,

themselves, are capable of producing neuropeptides (complex molecules secreted by the brain,

spinal cord, glands, abdominal tissue, and organs) that circulate in the blood and lymph systems.

This means that all of the changes produced in the autonomic and endocrine systems by the mind

through hypnosis, biofeedback, and placebo response may be communicated to the immune system

as well, and vice versa.

The findings that activation of the immune system changes the level of circulating hormones and

neurotransmitters, and conversely, alteration of the level of circulating hormones or

neurotransmitters modifies activity of the immune system.

Data documenting that a variety of behavioral manipulations such as classical conditioning and

hypnosis are capable of influencing various parameters of immune functioning. For instance, when

the presentation of a neutral, distinctively aromatic scent (e.g., mint), the conditioned stimulus

(CS), if followed by injection of a drug that induces a temporary gastrointestinal upset and activates

immunologic response (e.g., chemotherapy), individuals will learn, in a single trial, not only to

avoid the mint scent – a conditioned olfactory aversion -- but also show conditioned enhancement

of a variety of specific and nonspecific immune responses when the CS is subsequently presented –

a conditioned immunological response.

Research showing that psychosocial factors (social support, social isolation, crowding, noise) have

the potential to influence the susceptibility to and/or the progression of a variety of pathological

anatomic, cellular, and chemical bodily processes, including infectious diseases such as

tuberculosis and pneumonia, autoimmune diseases such as asthma and rheumatoid arthritis, and

neoplastic diseases involving abnormal tissue formation.

Experimental and clinical studies in which psychological factors such as “stress” and depression

have been shown to be capable of influencing immune responses and the onset of disease

processes, depending on the individual‟s perception of and capacity to cope with the quantity and

quality of the stressful circumstances and the quality and quantity of immunogenic stimulation.


51

A variety of intervening variables have been

investigated as possible explanations for

producing healing placebo effects including

classical conditioning (Wickramasekera, 1980),

changes in response expectancy (Kirsch, 1990)

and transformation of meaning (Frank & Frank,

1991).

While necessarily speculative at this time, further work

drawing upon transpersonally-oriented mind-body

therapies (e.g., Achterberg, 1985; Gawain, 1979;

Houston, 1982; Lawlis, 1996; Leonard & Murphy, 1995;

Maltz, 1960; Masters & Houston, 1978; Rossi & Cheek,

1988; Walsh, 1999) could provide additional evidence of

the extent to which a change in inner focus and belief may

be translated into positive immunological changes and

improvements in health.

Psychoneuroimmunology.. PNI studies how the mind

(psycho), the brain and nervous system (neuro), and the

immune system (immunology) interact. Research

indicates that there is a “psychosomatic communication

network” operating that links thoughts and emotions with

the body and that this is how mental healing works, how

something purely mental – thoughts, beliefs, meaning,

intent, feelings – can have powerful physical effects on

the body, powerful enough to eliminate warts, kill the

tumor, lower blood pressure without drugs or surgery.

Materialism was the predominant philosophy of Western

medicine. Now PNI has encouraged a shift toward

dualism, seeing mind and body as isomorphic aspects of

each other.

Molecules of emotion. In 1972 neuroscientist Candace

Pert, former Chief of the Section on Brain Chemistry of

the Clinical Neuroscience Branch at the National Institute

of Mental Health, discovered the existence of opiate

receptors in the brain. Later her work led her to discover

the existence of neuropeptide receptors on immune cells.

Neuropeptides are molecules the brain uses to

communicate. Previously, neuropeptide receptors could

only be found in the brain. The existence of these

receptors on the cells in our immune system (along with

other research done that demonstrated the immune system

could be conditioned) provided hard evidence that the

immune system was not separate but an extension of the

brain. Neuropeptides have been found throughout the

body implying the existence of a vast mind-body

communication network linking mind and body together.

In a recent 1997 book titled Molecules of Emotion: Why

You Feel the Way You Feel, Candace Pert describes how

our thoughts and beliefs, wishes and intentions create our

emotions, These emotions, in turn, trigger the release of

neuropeptide molecules that then travel throughout the

body affecting the autonomic, endocrine, and immune

systems causing physical changes in the body (Pert,

1997). Pert believes that it is our emotions that are the

bridge between non-physical thought and the body.

If the body is conscious, then how conscious is it? What

sorts of communications occur within the body? PNI has

identifies some of the likely pathways that body system

communicate with each other. How deep and extensive

are these communications in fact? From the transpersonal

perspective of Seth-Jane Roberts (1997):

“Each most microscopic portion of the body is

conscious, strives toward its own goals of

development, and is in communication with all

other parts of the body…The molecules and even

the smaller aspects of the body act and react,

communicate, cooperate with each other, and

share each other‟s knowledge, so that one

particle of the body knows what is happening in

all other parts. Thus, the amazing organization

usually works in a smooth, natural fashion”

(Roberts, 1997, pp. 15-16)

We have seen how thoughts and beliefs, wishes and

intentions, feelings and emotions can have powerful

effects on the body and briefly noted how PNI has made

major steps in helping us understand the mechanisms the

mind uses to control the body. The astounding things the

mind can do to modulate the immune system (imagery) ,

negate the effects of drugs (MPD), melt tumors

(placebos), heal wounds with great rapidity (miraculous

cures), override our genetic programming (hypnosis),

reshape living flesh (stigmata) suggests that each of us,

ideally, possess the ability to influence our health and

control our physical body. Transpersonal psychology,

and transpersonal medicine in particular, seeks to explore

and harness these talents, powers, and abilities each of us

to some degree possess.

Our thoughts and beliefs, purposes, and intentions,

expectations and wishes, fears and desires, images and

attitudes, prejudices and faith are the important mental

elements that provide clues to what we need to be aware

of and acquire mastery over if we are to learn how to

acquire and use these “transpersonal” powers and

abilities.


52

The Power of Your Subconscious Mind

Power of the subconscious mind. The power of the

subconscious mind is the best explanation for many of

these phenomena. The story of Mr. Wright, for instance,

demonstrates the biological importance of ideas and the

power of belief and the ability of the subconscious mind

to regulate important “involuntary” autonomic

(sympathetic and para-sympathetic) and immunological

body functions when coupled with volition (i.e.,

conscious intent, purpose, expectation, and will).

Obviously, it was not the worthless drug, Krebiozen that

restored the abilities and functions of his body to its

normal state of efficiency and good health. “It was his

imagination aroused to an intense degree, plus the

confident expectancy of a perfect healing. Imagination

was joined to faith or subjective feeling, and the union of

the two brought about a healing through the power of his

subconscious mind” (Murphy, 200, p. 52).

“The greatest force in the human body is the

natural drive of the body to heal itself – but that

force is not independent of the belief system,

which can translate expectations into

physiological change. Nothing is more wondrous

about the fifteen billion neurons in the human

brain than their ability to convert thoughts,

hopes, ideas, and attitudes into chemical

substances. Everything begins, therefore, with

belief. What we believe is the most powerful

option of all” (Cousins, 1981, p. 205)

The power of belief at the service of the subconscious

mind. If Mr. Wright had fully believed in the power of

some saint‟s bones or the healing properties of magnets,

he would have gotten the same results. Anything that leads

a person to honestly and fully believe in the theory or

method or process will make a healing more likely. It is

not the thing believed that heals or harms, but the belief,

faith, and confident expectancy in the mind that acts as a

powerful suggestion to the subconscious, releasing its

healing potency. That healing power may be called by

many different names – God, nature, life, creative

intelligence – and the healing process may be described

by different methods – qong, acupuncture, naturopathy,

chemotherapy – but in reality they are simply different

ways of referring to the healing potency residing in the

subconscious mind.

The Buddhist, the Christian, the Moslem, and the

Jew may all get answers to their prayers, in spite

of the enormous differences among their stated

beliefs. How can this be? The answer is that it is

not because of the particular creed, religion,

affiliation, ritual, ceremony, formula, liturgy,

incantation, sacrifices, or offerings, but solely

because of belief or mental acceptance and

receptivity about that for which they pray

(Murphy, 2000, p. xvii).

The law of belief, when harnessed to the power of the

subconscious mind, becomes a working hypothesis for

understanding the transpersonal psychological mechanism

operating during mind-body healing. This conscious

belief subconscious mind principle points the way to a

practical approach for building a new transpersonal

understanding of mind-body communication and healing.

Placebos provide ample proof that expectations

can have an effect on body chemistry and on the

autonomic nervous system…and that what

passes through the mind can produce alterations

in the body‟s chemistry. These facts also indicate

that the same pathways that come into play

through the use of placebos can be activated

without placebos. The main ingredient is the

human belief system (Cousins, 1991, p. 19).

In other words, it was Mr. Wright‟s subconscious mind

that did the healing, not the thing that he believed in. Mr.

Wright‟s belief in Krebiozen awakened and harnessed the

powers of his subconscious mind – that vast storehouse of

memory, that power that “involuntarily” controls one‟s

heartbeat and circulation of blood, that “mindlessly”

regulates one‟s digestion and respiration and elimination,

that “mechanically” transmutes food into bone and blood

and flesh, that “unconsciously” controls all the vital

processes and functions of one‟s body, that

“unknowingly” grew one‟s body from an infant to an

adult – that then responded accordingly, in line with his

conscious beliefs and expectations to activate his ever-

present healing system, and a healing occurred.


53

The Conscious and Subconscious Minds

The subconscious mind exists with the conscious mind

to contend with. The body and the subconscious mind

exist with the conscious mind to contend with. The

subconscious mind and the cells that compose our body

does not try to make sense of the philosophical and

religious belief that pervade the social, cultural, political

world. They rely upon the interpretation of the conscious

mind that produces an inner environment of thoughts and

concepts to which our subconscious mind and body

responds.

The quality of our mental and physical health is formed

through the subjective realities and energies of our

feelings and cognitive constructs. Our conscious mind

directs our attention toward sensations that occur in three-

dimensional time and space, interprets those sensations

into perceptions, organizing those perceptions into

concepts, categories, and schemas. The subconscious

mind and body depends upon those interpretations.

The subconscious mind is conscious. The subconscious

is not simply a cardboard figure, however, or an ignorant

machine that can be pushed around and bullied to carry

out the orders of the outer ego. The nature of identity is

far more mysterious than that. According to the

transpersonal theory of Seth-Jane Roberts,

“The conscious ego rises indeed out of “the

unconscious”, but the unconscious being the

creator of the ego, is necessarily far more

conscious than its offspring. The ego is simply

not conscious enough to be able to contain the

vast knowledge that belongs to the inner

conscious self from which it springs” (Butts,

2002, p. 435).

In these terms, then, the subconscious mind is conscious.

Just as our usual, waking conscious mind is directed by an

outer ego, so is the inner subconscious mind directed by

what may be termed an inner ego that organizes what

psychodynamic-oriented psychologists, such as Jung,

would call unconscious material. There is an inner ego or

inner self that is the organizer of “unconscious”

experience. The subconscious, subliminal stream of

consciousness is complicated, richly creative, infinitely

varied, purposeful, and highly discriminating. It is hardly

“unconscious.” The waking ego is simply not aware of it

because the memory of it is blocked out of memory from

normal waking consciousness

The subconscious mind and physical body share a

deeper source. The healing potency of the subconscious

mind itself is the product of an even greater, inner

consciousness with far more sense of identity and

purpose. The subconscious mind, like the conscious

reasoning mind with which we are most familiar, rises

from of a deeper source which might be called the whole

self or soul.

Indirect evidence for the soul. Dossey states that the

empirical evidence surrounding intercessory prayer

provides “indirect evidence for the soul” (Dossey, 1993,

p. 6). Psychiatrist Daniel Benor and psychotherapist Rita

Benor in a 1993 article “Spiritual Healing, Assuming the

Spiritual is Real” concur (Benor & Benor, 1993, p. 22) .

They identify three theoretical approaches to the

transpersonal or spiritual nature of the body:

Since Einstein proposed that matter and energy

are interchangeable, the body may be perceived

and understood as energy rather than matter;

There is evidence for the existence of an energy

body which surrounds and interpenetrates the

physical body (Benor, 1993a, 1993b; Gerber,

1988; Kuntz, 1985; Leadbeater, 1980; Moss,

1979);

The survival of a spirit after death.

Psychiatrist Daniel Benor and psychotherapist Rita Benor

also refer to six lines of research evidence supporting the

spirituality of the body:

Out-of-body experiences (Monroe, 1973; Rogo,

1978; Osis & McCormick, 1980);

Psychic phenomena (Nash, 1986; Tart, Puthoff,

& Targ, 1979); Jahn & Dunne, 1987)

Near-death experience (Moody, 1975; Morse,

1990; Ring, 1984)

Death bed experiences (Osis & Haraldsson,

1977)

Bereavement apparitions

Reincarnation research (Stevenson, 1974; 1987;

Woolger, 1987).


54

The spirituality of the body. Both spirituality and

religiosity can be viewed as attempts by individuals to

draw upon a source of energy that lies beyond yet within

the human psyche – a source of aliveness and vitality that

also lies within the body. In these terms, spiritual healing

is more than psychological healing since it intends and

means to draw upon the psyche‟s Source for its power and

effect (whatever name or label is given to that Source).

Just as the body has biochemical components whose

source arise from underlying bioenergetic components,

those bioenergetic components in turn arise from a source

out of which all energy comes. As expressed from the

transpersonal viewpoint of Seth-Jane Roberts:

“As the present life of any individual rises from

hidden dimensions beyond those easily

accessible in physical terms, and as it draws its

energy and power to act from unconscious

sources, so does the present physical universe as

you know it arise from other dimensions, have

its source, and derive its energy from deeper

realities” (Roberts, 1972, pp. 237-238).

“Nature, without nature‟s source, would not last a

moment” (Roberts, 1979, frontpiece). In these terms,

spiritual healing, when it occurs, is an expression of

energy, and the energy is “spiritual” because of its source.

Unconditional love and compassion have been proposed

to be “important etiological components of an effective

spiritual healing encounter” (Wirth, 1993, p. 74). In

making such claims, researchers are not

anthropomorphizing biomagnetic field interactions or

attributing human feelings to life energies, but simply

acknowledging that the trait of love (with its corollary

desire to communicate and join with the beloved) does

not belong to humans, or even to animals, alone, but is the

result of energy‟s characteristics.

Meaning, love, and energy.

Physician Larry Dossey in his 1991 book Meaning and

Medicine reports laboratory and clinical studies that

indicate that meaning is the key mechanism that accounts

for healing breakthroughs to occur and for disease

conditions to install themselves in the body. The mind is

not the only thing that responds to meaning, however. As

all the previous phenomena illustrate, the body responds

to meaning as well. Meaning, in other words, is

simultaneously both a mental and a physical

characteristic.

Another word for meaning is information. Thought is a

carrier of information just as the genes of the body are

carriers of information. The information contained in a

thought (the inner mental aspect) is simultaneously an

electro-chemical event (the other physical aspect).

Meaning (or information) has both these aspects.

Information can also be conceived in terms of energy. The

information (or energy) that moves our thought is the

same information (energy) that heals our finger.

Meaning, in other words, is not simply subjective, but

objective as well. The information contained in a

computer chip, for instance, actively directs the flow of

electrical current through the computer. The active use of

information characterizes the behavior of all physical

things from the electron to the cell. This means that the

ability to respond to meaning is not simply a human

attribute but is a characteristic of energy and matter itself.

Science may assume metaphysical explanations are

required. Orthodox Western science often assumes that

“miraculous” cures or successful experiments on distant

intercessory prayer necessarily involve the concept of a

divine or supernatural being having produced the desired

results or else assume that such phenomenon requires a

temporary suspension of nature itself by some outside

supernatural action. This presupposition creates a

conundrum for the researcher trying to identify the factors

that may possibly influence inexplicable cures and

effective prayers. For instance, consider a quote from the

article “Experiments on Distant Intercessory Prayer: God,

Science, and the Lesson of Massah” that appeared in the

Archives of Internal Medicine (Chibnall, Jeral, & Cerullo,

2001):

“If prayer is a metaphysical concept linked to a

supernatural being or force, why would its

efficacy vary according to parameters such as

frequency, duration, type or form? … Why, then,

attempt to explicate it as if it were a controllable

natural phenomenon? … There is no reasonable

construct to which to link prayer because of, we

would argue, it very nature” (Chibnall, Jeral, &

Cerullo, 2001, p. 2530).


55

Transpersonal Nature of the Physical Body

Natural processes we do not yet understand. The

materializations associated with the modern-day marvel

Sathya Sai Baba especially challenge our conventional

ideas about the nature of physical reality. His reported

ability to be two places at once or to momentarily vanish

and instantly reappear a hundred years or more away

implies that our bodies are not the mere objects that we

imagine or conceive them to be, but are even capable of

transcending conventional limitations of space and time.

The laws of physics (at least those which are revealed to

us by our scientific method) are apparently not set in

stone and are not as limited as our method of knowing

reveals them to be. The extraordinary psychophysical

phenomena examined in this chapter may simply be due

to natural processes we do not yet understand. “There is

nothing abnormal in the world- there is only the lack of

understanding the normal” (Swami Puri).

Supernatural intervention not required All of the

phenomena surveyed in this chapter are obviously natural

and inherent in the body structures; they could not happen

unless there were biological processes that allowed for

such performances. Understanding these mind-body

phenomena, therefore, does not require metaphysical

concepts linked to a supernatural being or force or the

suspension of so-called natural law. A transpersonal

interpretation of the cures at Lourdes, for instance, would

not necessarily posit that any known laws of physics were

violated. They could well be due to the accelerated

healing capacity of the body‟s normal processes of

organic repair that were activated by the individual‟s faith

and belief in the healing power of Lourdes.

Suspension of natural law not required. A

transpersonal perspective toward spiritual healing,

miraculous cures, charismatic phenomena, and other

related extraordinary events does not require the

assumption of a temporary suspension of nature by divine

intervention. If health is a natural state of our being, then

“‟miraculous‟ healings are simply instances of nature

unhampered” (Roberts, 1979, p. 330). As St. Augustine

put the matter: “Miracles do not happen in contradiction

to nature, but only in contradiction to that which is known

to us of nature.” “What we see is not nature, but nature

exposed to our method of questioning” (Werner

Heisenberg).

Psychic or supernatural explanation preferred? A

parapsychological explanation for extraordinary

phenomena that occur within the context of mysticism or

religious events should not be ruled out a priori. Most of

the reported miracles performed by saints throughout

history in all of the world’s great religions have also been

performed by psychics. Many stigmatists including Padre

Pio and Therese Neumann were renowned for their

psychic abilities. Satya Baba, a contemporary mystic, is

renowned for performing many of the miracles that have

traditionally been attributed to Jesus (e.g., multiplication

of loaves and fishes). Proposing a supernatural cause is a

less accurate representation of the facts than supposing

that the “miracles” are produced by powers and abilities

that lie deep in the human psyche that are latent within all

of us or as a result of the collective psychic powers of

large numbers of devote worshippers, intense faith, and

fervent belief (Thurston, 1952; Rogo, 1982; Gowan,

1980; Murphy, 1992).

A transpersonal interpretation of a spiritual event. The

term “religious experience” includes transpersonal

experience; but there are certain types of religious

experiences that do not meet the criteria for being

transpersonal (Anthony, Ecker, and Wilber, 1987). The

apparition of the Virgin Mary at Medjugorje would

certainly be considered a religious experience. Would it

also be considered a transpersonal experience? In certain

terms, the apparition of the Virgin Mary may represent a

transpersonal event “in which the sense of identity or self

[of the six young people at Medjugorje] extends beyond

the individual or personal to encompass wider aspects of

humankind, life, psyche, and cosmos” (Walsh & Vaughn,

1993a, p.3), but is this all that is happening? How does

the universe participate in the creation of this event? What

role does Being play in the manifestation of this

transpersonal event? Would it be legitimate (and possible)

for a transpersonal psychologist to offer a transpersonal

interpretation of an obviously religious and spiritual event

(such as the apparition at Medjugorje) without appearing

to proselytize a transpersonal theology? Figure 2-11

provides one provocative interpretation of the Medjugorje

phenomenon from the unique transpersonal perspective of

Seth-Jane Roberts.

Figure 2-11

Miracle at Medjugorie


56

Figure 2-11. Miracle at Medjugorje (Roberts 1981a, 1981b)

In June, 1981, the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus the Christ, began appearing to a group of young

people in a remote mountain village in Yugoslavia. How would such an event be interpreted from a

transpersonal perspective?

First of all, it is important to acknowledge that conventional religious concepts and rational true-or-false

approaches can make interpretations of such highly creative and important phenomena as happened at

Medjugorje extremely difficult. Living as we do in the modern scientific age, we search for certainties and

are taught from childhood to consider physical facts as the only criteria of reality. We seem to think that if

we can name and label exceptional events such as occur at Medjugorje a “miracle” or a “supernatural

religious event,” one the one hand, or as a “schizophrenic delusion” or “serotonin hallucination,”, on the

other, then they will be more acceptable and real. The ordinary ego-directed mind wants its truths labeled,

and clothed in the clear-cut contrasts of good or bad, true or false, black or white. Often this presents us

with an irreconcilable dilemma because we are then put into the position where we must prove that the

outside source of the “miracle at Medjugorje” – the Virgin Mary, Christ, or God the Father – really exists, or

lose faith in the phenomenon, and face the fact that our perception and understanding is not infallible. The

revelatory nature of the knowledge emerging from these six youth‟s experience seems so supernormal

because they (and we) try to view it from the perspective of normal waking consciousness and our usual

work-a-day world. We naturally interpret its manifestation and any symbolic meaning it may have in the

light of our beliefs of good and evil, the possible and the impossible.

We cannot understand what the Medjugorje phenomenon is unless we understand the nature of personality

and the characteristics of consciousness.

From a transpersonal perspective, calling exceptional events such as occur at Medjugorje either a “miracle, ”

and “supernatural religious event,” or as “schizophrenic delusion” or “serotonin hallucination,” remain

rather conventional interpretations of greater truths about ourselves. The visions of these six youths may

represent messages from multidimensional aspects of ourselves (being as we are a portion of All That Is) to

selves who are in space and time. The Virgin Mary personality may represent a deep part of the structure of

the psyche of the six youths as well as a definite personification of a multi-reality consciousness (or Virgin

Mary entity). The messages they receive would represent the encounter of their personalities with the vast

power of their own psyche in dramatized form with the source of their being (or “God” if you prefer),

personified according to the ideas of these six young people. Note that such an interpretation of this

important event, does not deny the validity or significance of the phenomenon, nor claims that the six young

people are making it all up, nor that it proceeds from them alone.

When people pray or have authentic mystical experiences, it is important to recognize that, psychologically

speaking, they are still working through areas of the psyche. At some indescribable point, the psyche may

open up into levels of being, reality, experience, or understanding usually unavailable to ego-directed

awareness, and personify itself to get its message across, dramatizing itself through the creativity of the

percipient‟s beliefs and personality. The symbolization and personification is important psychologically.

Quite legitimate and valid psychological experiences of basically independent, alternate realties become

clothed in the garb of very limited, conventional images and ideas.

The six youths at Medjugorje have personified their experience in conventional religious terms, while

instinctively sensing its multidimensional nature. The valid and significant creative material, the psychic

content, becomes changed by the beliefs, symbols, ideas, and intents of the conscious mind of these six

visionaries who must interpret the information they receive.


57

Figure 2-11. Miracle at Medjugorje (continued) (Roberts 1981a, 1981b)

Cognitive psychology reveals how schemata can limit our understanding of events, situations, and other

people, and how we, in turn, often limit our own experience to fit the schemata what we have. This applies

to self-schemata as well. Most people do not understand their own inner reality and many individuals have

been taught to mistrust themselves. After all, the unconscious self, from the Freudian perspective, is

acknowledged to be devious, capable of the most insidious subconscious fraud, and filled with infantile

impulses that cannot be trusted. Revelatory material then must erupt as if it came from an outside source.

On an inner level, the six youths of Medjugorje are perceiving something different and of significant

importance to them, for beyond the boundaries of the known self, intuitive and revelatory knowledge

springs into their existence to expand their conscious knowledge and experience. Yet mixing with their type

of life space, imprinted by their psychological field, and sifted through the personalities of the percipients,

the phenomenon - the appearance of the Blessed Mary - appears in line with the six youth‟s ideas of

Christianity and personality, even though the phenomenon’s own reality might exist in different terms

entirely.

It may be that personifications of such entities as manifested in the “Virgin Mary” personality usually come

through only as caricatures of their real natures because of our beliefs about the nature of personhood. The

individual psyches of the six Medjugorje youths likely deflects and distorts the “Virgin Mary” personality

to some degree and reflects it through their own nature as it expresses itself through them. The religious

concepts of these six youths, in other words, form a grid or net or webwork of beliefs through which their

deepest perceptions flow.

It is through the rather conventional Catholic image of the Virgin Mary that they have interpreted whatever

manifestations their own psyche may have presented themselves with. The problem that is forever upon us

is in making the symbolic personifications literal (for has not science taught us that only the literal fact is

true?). The problem is never looking behind the symbolism of the communication, beyond the

personification of the inner morality play that is the “Miracle at Medjugorje” for Catholics world-wide, for

the greater meanings beneath.

As Jung clearly understood, the “Virgin Mary” personality is a symbol (or archetype) for other dimensions

of our own personality. Its language is not literal truth in limited positivistic true or false terms. The

symbols of the Medjugorje vision are a reality in an inner order of events that can only be stated

symbolically in our own three-dimensional physical world of space and time. There is an inner and outer

order of events.

The vision of the six youths of Medjugorje presents some very private information from that inner order.

But like a round peg trying to fit a square hole, the resulting translation gives us events squeezed out of

shape to some degree, as the six youths superimpose one kind of reality over another, interpreting one kind

of information from the inner order in terms of the outer one, with all of its quite conventional beliefs,

symbols, ideas, and images, altering it to some extent. The experience of these six youths become tinged

with the entire bag of concepts and beliefs they hold, influenced by the religious and cultural beliefs of our

time.


58

Resistance of Science

Why investigate the reality of fictions?

As far as official, mainstream psychology is concerned,

phenomena such as the miraculous cures of Lourdes,

intercessory prayer at-a-distance, the various charisms

(body incombustibility, edenia, invulnerability to injury,

blood prodigies), the materializations of Satya Baba and

D.D. Home, the birthmarks suggestive of reincarnation,

and so forth cannot possibly exist given the nature of

reality and human personality action presumed by the

materialistic philosophy of mechanistic science.

The phenomena don’t fit the philosophy. In those

terms, our bodies are nothing more than a complex

combination of atoms and molecules, chemical

neurotransmitters and hormones, cells and organs and

nothing more. Physical illnesses (cancer, ulcers, allergies,

warts, heart disease) have purely physical causes (diet,

smoking, lack of exercise, viruses, bacteria, faulty genes,

hormonal imbalance) and are cured by physical means

alone (drugs or surgery). Mental, nonphysical thoughts

and feelings simply cannot interact with or affect or

influence the processes of insentient, physical entities

such as the body because it seemingly violates scientific

laws of cause-and-effect.

Not understanding how something works doesn’t

mean it isn’t real. It is ridiculous to believe that a

worthless sugar pill, for instance, can produce the same

physical effects in the body as a “real” drug that has taken

many years and millions of dollars to develop and test by

reputable pharmaceutical companies approved by the

Food and Drug Administration. Such mind-body effects

when they appear to occur must be the result of faulty

observation, fraud, trickery, deceit, or a simple fluke, a

random event in an impersonal universe with neither

reason nor meaning nor purpose. Viewed as

contaminating nuisance factors and confounding variables

that need to be controlled rather than encouraged, many

hospital doctors, nurses, and medical researchers tend to

ignore, overlook, or deny the therapeutic value of

powerful self-healing processes (Goodwin, Goodwin, &

Vogel, 1979). As Larry Dossey in his 1993 book on

spiritual healing titled Healing Words: The Power of

Prayers and the Practice of Medicine states: “A body of

knowledge that does not fit with prevailing ideas can be

ignored as if it does not exist, no matter how scientifically

valid it is” (p. xv).

Evidence is extensive. Clinical and laboratory evidence is

extensive, however, that mind-body events such as

placebos, miraculous healings, multiple personality

disorders, spontaneous remissions, biofeedback, hypnosis,

and mental imagery may involve any system of the body

– nervous, endocrine, cardiovascular, respiratory,

digestive, renal, and immune – and influence the

prognosis of any physical disorder – epilepsy, cerebral

palsy, parkinsonism, multiple sclerosis, Huntington‟s

disease, polio, paraplegia, diabetes, atherosclerosis,

rheumatic fever, high blood pressure, anemia, hay fever

and asthma, viral and bacterial infections, gastroenteritis,

diarrhea, peptic ulcer, hepatitis, urinary tract infection,

kidney failure, impotence, AIDS, inflammatory response,

and even the expression of genes (see for example,

O‟Regan & Hirshberg, 1993; Murphy, 1992; Justice,

1987; Moyers, 1995; Achterberg, 1985; Targ & Katra,

1999).

Explanations still sought. A remarkable range of

changes and alterations in biological states and traits

occur during phenomena that have been variously referred

to as “placebo effects,” “spontaneous remissions,”

“spiritual and miraculous cures,” “multiple identity

states,” “therapeutic hypnosis,” and “biofeedback”.

These terms, of course, do not explain how the

phenomena of mind-body communication and healing

occur. They are but descriptive labels and designations

applied to the phenomena. The underlying processes of

mind-body communication and healing are still subject to

hot debate within the medical community and mainstream

psychological science. In ignoring or minimizing the

power of the placebo effect as a mere artifact in

pharmacological research, however, to take just one

example, psychological science risks losing a deeper

understanding of the true potential of one of the most

powerful therapeutic psychological interventions

available to humankind – the belief that our body does

indeed have the power and capacity to heal itself.

Scientific arrogance and the power of prior belief. The

history of science is full of examples in which seemingly

impossible phenomenon became possible and eventually

accepted as facts within currently accepted scientific

frameworks through a “paradigm shift” (a paradigm is

“the entire collection of beliefs, values, and problem-

solving methods and models shared by the members of a

given scientific community”) (Kuhn, 1962, p. 175). The

existence of the subconscious and it corollary

phenomenon of hypnosis, for instance, was vilified,

ridiculed, and scorned by skeptical orthodox

psychological science for over 100 years as being an

obviously false, absurd, and mistaken idea and impossible

phenomenon before a shift in beliefs, values, and

problem-solving methods lead to its acceptance as bona


59

fide phenomena in the history of psychological science

(Ellenberger, 1970). When first proposed to the scientific

community, Harvey‟s theory of blood circulation was

called “crack-brained,” Jenner‟s small-pox vaccination

was rejected, Louis Pasteur‟s germ theory met hostility,

Lister‟s introduction of antiseptics was ignored, Thomas

Edison‟s demonstration of the phonograph and invention

of the incandescent light bulb were declared preposterous,

Wegner‟s theory of “continental drift” was ridiculed,

Einstein‟s General Theory of Relativity was declared

incomprehensible and contradictory to common sense,

and so on (Milton, 1996). “Yet the history of science

itself demonstrates how often yesterday‟s heresies turn

into today‟s orthodoxy” (Schmicker, 2002, p. 32)

The Varieties of Anomalous Experience

Varieties of anomalous experience. Many of the

phenomena mentioned in this chapter are noteworthy

because they seem to defy the laws of nature as

understood in Cartesian-Newtonian science. Mainstream

psychology would regard them as “anomalies” (Cardena,

Lynn, & Krippner, 2000). They are noteworthy, however,

not because they are anomalies that require explanation

within the Cartesian-Newtonian paradigm of modern

science, but because they suggest that the Cartesian-

Newtonian paradigm its requires revision in explaining

how non-anomalous instances of healing occur. Unusual

observations and experimental data are regarded as

“anomalous” until theoretical frameworks change.

Anomalous experience and behavior always provides

genuine science an opportunity to enlarge its net of

evidence and web of assumptions through which it views

the nature of physical and psychological reality.

Science itself must change, as it discovers that its

net of evidence is equipped only to catch certain

kinds of fish, and that it is constructed of webs of

assumptions that can only certain varieties of

reality, while others escape its net entirely

(Roberts, 1981, p. 137).

The recognition, acknowledgement, and acceptance by

mainstream psychology of exceptional human

experiences and human transformative capacity as an

extension of normal human personality action will require

a change of belief, values, and problem-solving methods

that honors the full range of human experience and

behavior. According to transpersonal psychologist Frank

Lawlis, edition of the 1996 book Transpersonal

Medicine: A New Approach to Healing Body-Mind-Sprit

believes that “any medicine that does not honor and

engage the transpersonal dimensions of human experience

is limited and incomplete” (Lawlis, 1996, p. xiii).

Open Mind. Educational psychologist John Curtis

Gowan in his 1980 book Operations of Increasing Order

and Other Essays on Exotic Factors of Intellect, Unusual

Powers and Abilities, Etc. (as Found in Psychic Science)

provides a compilation of amazing accounts of body

powers and abilities that should not be able to happen if

our currently understanding of “natural” law if correct.

The fact that such phenomena have been consistently

reported in all cultures for centuries by persons and

groups of persons who have otherwise lived truthful and

in some cases saintly lives, given them some degree of

face validity, and ought not to be dismissed out-of-hand

as simply delusions, fraudulent, and lies. As William

James once remarked in the context of “supernatural”

phenomena such as clairvoyance and apparitions that

were being investigated by the London “society for

Psychical Research” at the time: “It is a field in which the

sources of deception are extremely numerous. But I

believe there is no source of deception in the investigation

of nature which can compare with the fixed belief that

certain kinds of phenomena are impossible” (quoted in

McDermott, 1968, p. 787). To ignore or dismiss this

evidence in such a prejudicial way would be unscientific.

Conceptual and methodological difficulties. Part of the

difficulty lies in the conceptual and methodological

confusion that surrounds spiritual healing (Krippner &

Villolodo, 1976). The basic concept of “spiritual healing”

is ambiguous because a wide variety of practices are

associated with it such as touching or passing the hand

over the patient (e.g., Therapeutic Touch), invocation of

spirit guides or decreased ancestors (e.g., shamanism),

praying to God and the Saints (e.g., prayer healing),

Reiki, Resonance Balancing, and so forth (Solfin, 1984).

Different approaches in the practice of “transpersonal

medicine” require that a broader and clearer definition of

healing be adopted.

The methodological difficulty lies in defining some

theory capable of explaining the agencies of action by

which healing occurs. Some researchers claim the

patient‟s belief in the process is key, others say that

neither patient belief nor expectancy is important, it is the

healer‟s intention and expectancy that is key. Still others

say intention and communication of love and compassion

are fundamental in the spiritual healing process. Some say

a belief in God or some Higher Power is key, while still

others assert that concentration on a source of healing

outside oneself misses the true point that all healing

(spiritual, mental, emotional, physical) originates from

within the body that requires the healing.


60

As Daniel Wirth states in his 1993 article titled

“Implementing Spiritual Healing in Modern Medical

Practice” reminds us:

“The field of spiritual healing must continue to

gather objective physiological data using both

the double-blind randomized reductionistic

model as a new approach suggested by Myers &

Benson (1992) which incorporates predictability,

measurability, and reproducibility to gauge

psychological and spiritual health factors. In

order for a claimed fact to be verified, it must be

possible to predict the outcome of a

measurement done on specified parameters with

specified instruments and those measurements

must be reproducible” Wirth, 1993, p. 76).

White Crows Abounding

White crows abounding. From the viewpoint of

transpersonal psychology, understanding the phenomena

described in this chapter as demonstrations of the power

of the subconscious mind – Mr. Wright‟s placebo healing

response, the effects of mental images on local bodily

functions using creative visualization and biofeedback,

physical changes that do not correspond to known

configurations of nerves or blood vessels in the skin using

hypnosis, voodoo death, transcendence of the usual

parameters of physiological functioning through acts of

will, changing “unchangeable” bodily processes in MPD,

the body‟s innate healing ability demonstrated in

spontaneous remissions, scientifically inexplicable

“miraculous” cures of Lourdes, healing-at-a-distance

using intercessory prayer, bodily changes corresponding

to mental images in stigmata, blood prodigies, body

incombustibility, inedia, invulnerability to injury, physical

materializations, body elongations, and birthmarks

suggestive of reincarnation – events that are not supposed

to exist but do anyways – points the way to a practical

approach for facilitating mind-body communication and

healing in a controllable, predictable, and explainable

way.

It is not easy for a physical healing to be proclaimed a

miracle by the Roman Catholic Church. The major

miracle as far as orthodox Western science is concerned is

that the phenomena described in this chapter exist at all.

When we learn that something that science tells us cannot

happen but does anyway, we should again take note of

William James‟s famous statement to the effect that it

takes only one single white crow – one counterexample –

to prove that not all crows are black.

“If you will let me use the language of the

professional logic-shop, a universal proposition

can be made untrue by a particular instance. If

you wish to upset the law that all crows are

black, you mustn‟t seek to show that no crows

are black; it is enough if you prove one single

crow to be white” (Murphy & Ballou, 1973, p.

41).

“As in the case of subliminal perception, all that is

needed is one solid finding to change the way we think

about the mind” (Kihlstrom, 1984, p. 117). We need only

one verified case of spiritual or miraculous healing in

which fraud, mistaken diagnosis, and other “normal”

explanations are ruled out to cast doubt on the principle

that “miracles” are impossible and do not exist. The fact

of the matter, at least in the case of Lourdes cures and

their medical assessment, is that we have not one but 64

white crows; in the case of correlating children‟s

birthmarks with the location of the wounds on the

deceased person of the claimed previous life we have 225

white crows. We also have a D. D. Home, a Sathya Sai

Baba, a Theresa Neumann, a Vittorio Michelli, a Miss

Beauchamps, a Mirin Dajo, a Jack Schwarz, a Mr Wright,

and a fishskin boy, as other “white crows.”


61

REVISIONING

THE MIND-BODY PROBLEM

Understanding the nature of mind and body has been

problematic for traditional psychology for over 100 years.

During that time two main theories (with numerous

derivative theories) have evolved to explain the power of

the mind to affect the workings of the physical body and

the relationship between the physical reality of human

thought and its recognized mental aspects. These two

theories are called “monism” and “dualism.” The modern

form of the mind-body problem has been succinctly

expressed by Wilder Penfield in his 1975 book The

Mystery of the Mind: A Critical Study of Consciousness

and the Human Brain.

“Is the mind merely a function of the brain? Or is

it a separate but closely related element?... Do

brain-mechanisms account for the mind? Can the

mind be explained by what is now known about

the brain? If not, which is the more reasonable of

the two possible hypotheses: that man‟s being is

based on one element, or on two” (Penfield,

1975, pp. x, xiii)?

Monism and dualism defined. Monism is the

metaphysical theory that our being is based on one

fundamental element – matter. Dualism is the

metaphysical theory that our being is based on two

fundamentally different elements: matter and mind.

Monism asserts that mind (or consciousness) is matter (or

brain). The two are identical. There is only one reality –

the physical one – which is represented by two conceptual

systems called “mind” and “body” that can be

distinguished only in experience or by abstraction.

Dualism asserts that mind (or consciousness) is not matter

(or brain). The two are ontologically different entities

(i.e., belonging to different orders of reality) basically

independent of one another that can be distinguished not

only in experience or by abstraction but as a matter of

empirical fact.

Differing Views of the Mind-Body Relationship

Within the two main metaphysics of monism and dualism,

there multiple and diverse variations (Hergenhahn, 2002).

Dualists can be either epiphenomenalists (Hobbes, 1658),

interactionists (Descrartes, 1641), identists (Russell,

1915), parallelists (Spinoza, 1665), or pan-

experientialism (Whitehead, 1929). Monists can be either

materialists (Democritus, 400 B.C.) or idealists (Berkeley,

1710).

Three primary data of experience. We each have our

own consciousness. This is a primary datum of

experience. We each have direct experience of our own

“stream of consciousness,” to use the phrase of William

James, the great American psychologist. Only a fool

would deny the existence of his own experience, or say

that ideas are nonexistent or deny their importance. Even

Rene Descartes (1596-1650), the French mathematician

and philosopher who first divided reality into a world of

concepts and a world of flesh, could not deny the

phenomenological fact: “Cogito, ergo, sum.”

We also know we each have our own body. This is the

second primary datum of experience. We can see it,

touch it, smell it, hear it, taste it, weigh it, measure it, and

count it, things we cannot do with an idea or a thought.

We have been taught since childhood that our body is

composed of something called “physical matter” - the

basic “stuff” of the universe of which all physical objects

in three-dimensional space and time are constituted.

There is no difference, basically speaking, between my

body, a rock, a frog, or a star.

We know further that mind interacts with the body and

that the body reciprocally interacts with the mind. This is

the third primary datum of experience. The scientific

evidence for the phenomena discussed in the previous

section - the placebo response, imagery effects,

biofeedback, hypnosis, and psychosomatic illness, for

instance – demonstrates the transactional relationship

between mind and body and that has been mapped out by

research in psychoneuroimmunology (PNI).

Mind exists. Body exists. Mind and body interact. So

what‟s the problem?

Monism vs. dualism compared. David Ray Griffin,

professor of philosophy of religion at the School of

Theology at Claremont in California, discusses the

problem in two elegantly written books: The

Reenchantment of Science: Postmodern Proposals (1988)

and Parapsychology, Philosophy, and Spirituality: A

Postmodern Exploration (1997). The problem is the way

that mind and body are understood in both monism and

dualism. Monism says that mind is all matter; dualism

says that mind has no matter, and both say that body has

no mind.

Monism fails to acknowledge the nonphysical nature of

thought; dualism fails to acknowledge the physical reality

of thought. Whereas dualism denies matter to mind,

monism denies mind to matter – only mind experiences,

not matter.


62

The problem with monism is not that it recognizes the

unity of mind and body, but that it fails to recognize their

differences. The problem with dualism is not that it

recognizes the differences between mind and body, but

that it fails to recognize their unity.

The virtue of monism is its recognition of the physical

reality of thought. The virtue of dualism is its recognition

of the basically independent nature of mind (or

consciousness). The failure common to both monism and

dualism is its inability to acknowledge that the body

possesses its own consciousness that is as alive and vital,

though different in focus, as our normal waking one.

Mechanism, materialism, and reductionism. In its

attempt to resolve the difficulties implicit in both monism

and dualism, contemporary mainstream psychology still

labors under a mechanistic, materialistic, and

reductionistic metaphysics that makes it difficult for

many psychologists to even examine the evidence of the

human mind‟s power to heal, change, and transform the

physical, material body and thus the course of a physical

disease or illness.

Mechanism: The notion of insentient matter. According to postmodern philosopher David Ray Griffin:

The common problematic aspect of both monism and

dualism lies in their notion of matter: Matter (and by

implication the body and the rest of the physical universe)

is composed of inert elements that are themselves lifeless,

devoid of experience or sentience – “vacuous actuality,”

to use Whitehead‟s phrase. “The similarity between

dualism and materialism is no accident. The latter is

simply a decapitated version of the former, having

retained the former‟s „nature‟ while lopping off its

„mind‟” (Griffin, 1997, p. 111). The body is an inert,

passive, insentient machine that operates with clockwork

precision and efficiency – no more and no less.

David Ray Griffin in his 1988 book, The Reenchantment

of Science, proposes an interesting historical account of

how a mechanistic notion of the human body developed

within both monism and dualism for theological and

sociological reasons (rather than for empirical reasons)

out of the theistic and supernaturalistic framework of the

times. Both Church and State sought to preserve the

sociopolitical order by defending the authority of the

Bible. The Bible asserted that rulers were appointed by

an omnipotent, omniscient, and thoroughly transcendent

God that was not immanent but wholly external to the

world and who imposed motion and laws upon it from

without, and occasionally suspended those laws to

perform miracles. The mechanistic conception of the

human body was used both by monists to support the

doctrine of inert, passive, lifeless matter on the one hand,

and by dualists to support the doctrine of the immortal

soul, on the other.

The mechanistic view of body (and matter and nature)

was used by both monists and dualists to argue for the

existence of God and defend the existence of miracles as

supernatural phenomena. Allowing hidden (occult)

powers to act within matter - or qualities of subjectivity,

awareness, purpose, value, ideals, and creativity that

could be taken to be divine - could be used to deny the

miracles reported to be supernaturally caused. If the body

- and the physical world - was devoid of self-motion, then

there had to be a cosmic supernatural being to have put it

into motion and to explain the attraction of bodies and

cohesion of atoms.

“In opposing pantheistic or panentheistic

worldviews in which God was immediately

present to and in all things....by eliminating all

feeling as well as divinity and creativity from

nature,…[mechanistic philosophy sanctioned]

the uninhibited exploitation of nature for human

ends, such as mining and vivisection” (Griffin,

1988, p. 11).

In the mechanistic philosophy of nature proposed by

materialist monism we have the origins of the modern

“disenchantment of the world” that was originally part of

a dualistic/theistic vision of reality (Griffin, 1988).

Materialism. Materialism in the narrow sense asserts that

whatever exists is material or physical; if it is not material

or physical, then it does not exist. The only way for mind

to exist is if it is a sub-class of physical events

(reductionistic materialism). Materialism in the broader

sense asserts that matter is in some way “primary” or

“most fundamental” reality; nonmaterial mind may exist

even if it is not a sub-class of physical occurrence, and it

may interact with body (interactionism) or it may not

(epiphenomenalism), but mind cannot exist without

matter, although matter can exist without mind.

Reductionism. Every modern introductory psychology

textbook speaks of the “foundations” of human

psychology in terms of its biological counterparts.

Neurons are “the building blocks of the nervous system…

Neurons hold the secret of how the brain works and, in

turn, the nature of human consciousness” (Smith, Nolen-

Hoeksema, Fredrickson, & Loftus, 2003, p. 32).

Neurotransmitters “help explain a range of psychological

phenomena…For example, researchers might attempt to

explain the normal ability to recognize faces solely in

terms of neurons and their interconnections in a certain

region of the brain” (Smith et al., 2003, pp. 62, 14). As

one highly-regarded general psychology textbook put it:


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“The push for reductionism (i.e., reducing

psychological notions to biological ones) goes on

at an ever-increasing rate. For many topics in

psychology, we now have both psychological

explanations and knowledge about how the

relevant psychological concepts are implemented

or executed in the brain…. This kind of

biological knowledge typically falls short of total

reductionism, but it is still very important”

(Smith et al., 2003, p. 14).

The reductionist metaphysic that characterizes

mainstream psychology‟s philosophy of science is also

reflected in its research methodology.

“It reflects the non-ecological assumption that

things are essentially independent of their

environments, so that the scientist abstracts from

nothing essential in…removing cells from the

human body; it reflects the reductionistic

assumption that all complex things are really no

more self-determining than the elementary parts

in isolation” (Griffin, 1988, p. 27).

Thus, parts may be removed (ablated), destroyed

(lesioned), electrically or chemically stimulated, or

photographed (PET, fMRI) in isolation to infer the

psychological significance of specific biological

structures and processes for the whole organism. Complex

psychological phenomena may be reduced to selected

variables that are isolated and then manipulated or

controlled in artificial laboratory demonstrations to

identify those aspects of the phenomenon that are

predictable, repeatable, and controllable. Such an

approach can be misleading in that it leads us to believe

that bodily processes operate in isolation from one

another when in fact they do not. “The typical view, held

as recently as [1984] was that the immune system was a

closed system” (Maier, Watkins, & Fleshner, 1994, p.

1004). This faulty understanding of the immune system

was a direct consequence of the reductionist research

methodology employed.

Assumptions of orthodox Western psychology. Transpersonal psychologist Charles Tart (1975/1992, pp.

61-111) states in his book Transpersonal Psychologies:

Perspectives on the Mind from Seven Great Spiritual

Traditions., that orthodox Western psychology is based

upon a number of these mechanist, materialist, and

reductionist metaphysical assumptions which often go

unquestioned and may take on the appearance of

unquestionable fact in the minds of many mainstream

psychologists. These assumptions of orthodox Western

psychology include the belief that

The body is a relatively passive servo-

mechanism for carrying out the orders of the

nervous system

The physical body is the only body we have.

Physical death is the final termination of human

consciousness.

Consciousness is produced by the activity of the

brain, and therefore the activity of consciousness

is identical with the activity of the brain.

Psychological energy is completely derived from

physical energy, as expressed in physiological

processes of the body.

Each person is isolated from all others, locked

within his or her own nervous system.

We are completely determined by our genetic

inheritance and environment.

We exist in relative isolation from our

surrounding environment. We are essentially

independent creatures.

We are our body and nothing more.

We can understand the nature of reality without

understanding ourselves. (Tart, 1975/1992, pp.

61-111)

Why God won’t go away: Brain science and the

biology of belief. The application of this philosophy of

science to a transpersonal topic is illustrated by

psychologists‟ Andrew Newberg, Eugene D‟Aquili, and

Vince Rause 2001 book Why God Won’t Go Away: Brain

Science and the Biology of Belief. In the chapter titled,

“Brain Machinery: The Science of Perception” Newberg

et al. (2001) declare that:


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“The brain is a collection of physical structures

that gather and process sensory, cognitive, and

emotional data; the mind is the phenomenon of

thoughts, memories, and emotions that arise

from the perceptual processes of the brain. In

simpler terms, brain makes mind. Science can

demonstrate no way for the mind to occur except

as a result of the neurological functioning of the

brain….Neurologically speaking, the mind

cannot exist without the brain, and the brain

cannot exist without striving to create the mind”

(p. 33).

In a subsequent chapter titled: “Brain Architecture: How

the Brain Makes the Mind” Newberg et al. (2001) focus

on describing how brain structures give rise to the

phenomenon of spiritual experiences and comment on the

reality-status of the “object” (noema) of those acts of

experiencing (noesis).

“There is no direct, objective experience of

reality. All the things the mind perceives – all

thoughts, feelings, hunches, memories, insights,

desires, and revelations – have been assembled

piece by piece by the processing powers of the

brain from the swirl of neural blips, sensory

perceptions, and scattered cognitions dwelling in

its structure and neural pathways. Neurology

makes it clear: There‟s no other way for God to

get into your head except through the brain‟s

neural pathways. Correspondingly, God cannot

exist as a concept or as a reality anyplace else

but in your mind” (p. 37).

Prologue. Let us take a closer look at the implicit

assumptions about the nature of physical reality and

human personality action that underlie contemporary

orthodox, Western psychology, so that we may go beyond

them. To start, we will examine why dualism and monism

as traditionally conceived are inadequate for

understanding the outer limits of the human mind‟s power

to heal, change, and transform the physical, material

body. We will then examine the physical and nonphysical

reality of thought and discuss how the problems of

emergence and interaction that plague monism and

dualism are avoided in an alternative understanding of the

mind-body relationship called panpsychism. Panpsychism

is an alternative philosophical position that best addresses

the common and distinctive problems of dualism and

monism and is more adequate to the facts of experience.

As expressed from the unique transpersonal perspective

of Seth-Jane Roberts:

“The [body] is… not only conscious, but

conscious of itself; both as an individuality apart

from [the mind], and as an individuality that is a

part of [the mind]. It is continually aware, both

of this apartness and unity-with. The [mind] is

not continuously…aware of anything. It

frequently forgets itself. When it is swept up in a

strong emotion it seems to lose itself. There is

unity but no sense of apartness. When it most

vigorously maintains its sense of individuality it

is not longer aware of unity-with. The [body]

however is always aware of both aspects of its

reality (Butts, 2002, pp. 435-436).

An alternative non-Newtonian, non-Cartesian view of the

human body will be discussed that incorporates an

understanding of modern physical theory to explain the

biological importance of ideas and the spirituality of

creaturehood. Physically we are more than we know.

There is always more going on than ordinary sense data

show. “Everything that is apparent three-dimensionally

has an inside source, out of which its appearance springs”

(Roberts, 1979, p. 340). The remainder of the section will

discuss the nature of this “inside source”.

Cartesian Dualism

Historically, the classical form of dualism can be traced to

French mathematician and philosopher Rene Descartes

(1596-1650) who formulated the doctrine about the nature

of physical reality called Cartesian Dualism. Cartesian

Dualism is the belief that reality is divided into two types

of substances: a world of concepts (mind) and a world of

flesh (body). This division is Cartesian Dualism.

Descartes insisted that mind and body were strictly

separate. Mind and body were completely different in

every possible way. The body was spatial (took up

space), temporal (ages, dies, and decays), completely

devoid of sentience (awareness or experience), whose

workings could be explained in mechanical terms

(mechanically caused). Being passive, the body‟s

motivating power always came from outside (externally

motivated), and functioned completely independent of the

mind. The mind, on the other hand, was nonspatial,

nontemporal, ideal- and value-ladened, purposefully

acting on the basis of innate ideas, self-determining and

internally motivated by acts of will, and connected to the

physical body via the pineal gland. Philosophy David Ray

Griffin explains:


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The dualistic view…posits an absolute difference

in kind between entities that experience and

those that do not. The former have an “inside”

and exercise final causation, whereas purely

material entities are all “outside” and operate

entirely by efficient causation (Griffin, 1997, p.

122).

Dualists come in many varieties. Dualists attempt to

explain reality in terms of two fundamental basically

independent elements: matter and ideas. Bodily and

mental events are different and separate. Once it is

assumed that both physical and mental aspects of reality

exist, then the question arises about their relationship.

Dualists can be ephiphenomenalists, interactionists,

parallelists, or identists (also called “double aspectism”).

Dualism contends that human beings possess a mind

as well as a body. We each have our own consciousness

and we each have our own body, and they are

fundamentally different from each other. Outside

observers can observe that body takes up space, has

weight, mass, and can be measured using physical tools.

Only a person can experience the private contents of his

or her own mind (e.g., consciousness, awareness, feelings,

thoughts, sensations, dreams). The dentist can see the

cavity in my tooth and correlate that with the pain I feel,

but the dentist cannot see or experience that pain. You can

see my face turn red, and watch me shake my fist but only

I can experience the anger I feel. A psychologist might

chart my brain waves, but only I perceive my dreams.

Epiphenomenalism

Dualistic epiphenomenalism hypothesizes that ideas

(mind) are by-products (epiphenomena) of matter (brain

processes), just as heat is a by-product of the flickering

flame of a burning candle. Bodily processes cause mental

events but mental events cannot cause behavior.

Consciousness is just some kind of parallel passive

“epiphenomenon” or impotent by-product of nerve-cell

activity, mere echoes or shadows of bodily processes, that

may or may not be identifiable with specific physiological

processes.

It is assumed in epiphenomenalism that there is an

“enormous gulf, an “impassable chasm,” “a gap that

cannot be bridged” between phenomena as radically

different as physical brain events on the one hand and

non-physical, psychological events like sensations,

meaning, and will on the other (Tyndall, 1965).

According to W. K. Clifford, a 19th century

mathematician and philosopher, “The only thing which

influences matter is the position of surrounding matter or

the motion of surrounding matter.” But if the body can

influence the mind, why cannot the mind influence the

body? If our scientific conclusions about the brain (even

the theory of epiphenomenalism itself, for example) are

themselves merely the result of brain processes, then

such conclusions would not be based on logic but simply,

in the words of J. B. Pratt, “the way our mechanical brains

constrain us to think.”

The fact of experience that our mind acts upon the brain

to produce voluntary movement or may be impeded from

such action by the brain no matter how strong the intent to

act may be is dogmatically denied by epiphenomenalists

(e.g., Beloff, 1962; Searle, 1992). They assert that since

mental events like thoughts and planning and meaning-

making are not of the material world and take up no

space, they cannot by their very nature cause changes in

that world, not even in the brain. Any voluntary

movement is completely dependent on brain activity. The

experience we have that it is thought or will that controls

our actions is an illusion caused by neural events. There is

the observable behavior that we can see from the third-

person perspective, and there is the mental event that we

cannot see that is automatically gives the impression that

we are causing it from the first-person perspective, but is

actually merely associated with, but not a cause of, that

movement. The mental event that we experience causing

the movement is not a real cause of our outward

movement, but simply the same event looked at from two

different perspectives. Consciousness is just an “inner

aspect” of the brain processes. When the nerve cells fire

to produce any movement, we automatically perceive that

we are causing it. It is a false impression, however,

caused by the brain. Identist dualists confidently expect

and promise that everything from creativity to joy, from

love to belief in God, will be someday explained by

nerve-cell activities.


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Interactionism

Dualistic interactionism hypothesizes that mind (ideas)

can influence body (behavior) and body can influence

mind. It seems reasonable to assert that mind and body

mutually interact. On the one hand, cavities cause pain,

electromagnetic waves striking the cones in my retina

leads to visual sensations of color, and alcohol

consumption leads to changes in awareness. On the other

hand, hopelessness depresses the immune system,

embarrassment leads to blushing, fear to trembling, and

the intention to answer a ringing telephone leads to the

appropriate action. This is the position taken by Descartes

and Freud.

Interactionism baffles philosophers and scientists. The

fact that mind and body interact with one another seems

an obvious fact of our experience, but trying to explain

how this occurs has baffled philosophers and scientists

since Descartes first divided reality into a world of

concepts and a world of flesh. How exactly are

electromagnetic waves that are detected by the retina and

transduced into neural impulses (sensation) organized and

interpreted into meaningful experience (perception)? How

exactly does an intention or act of the will instantaneously

set in motion the multitudinous physical actions that

culminate in walking across the room to pick up the

telephone? We may be aware of the contents of a specific

thought but are totally unaware of how the process of

thinking itself occurs (being largely unconscious). How

can something that does not take up space (mind) move

something that does (body)? One would expect to find

some sort of break at the end of physiological processes

where the physical event (sensation) become translated

into the non-physical event (perception), but no such a

interruption or discontinuity in physiological processes

are ever observed to occur.

Parallelism

Dualistic parallelists (also called “psychophysical

parallelism”) hypothesize that both mind (mental events)

and body (bodily responses) independently and

simultaneously (or in parallel) arise in response to

environmental events. Like epiphenomenalism, mental

states exist and do not exert any influence over our

bodies, but neither does the body exert causal effect on

the mind. There is no causal connection between the light

that strikes my eye and the sensation I experience, simply

an acausal, synchronistic temporal association or

concomitance.

Identism

Dualistic identism (also called “double aspectism”)

hypothesizes that mind and body are two aspects of the

same event, just as “heads” and “tails” are two sides of

the same coin, and cannot be separated. Fechner and

Wundt held this theory. Mind and body are ultimately the

same events, two “aspects” of the same reality; the same

things “viewed” from different angles or known in

different ways. Mental states are the private or “inner”

nature of publicly observable or “outer” brain processes.

Like a curved line that is convex on one side and concave

on the other with no causal connection between them, so

it is with concave mind and convex body, according to

Fechner. Like the same mountain viewed from two

different directions, the mind and body are the same thing

viewed from different angles.

Modern Versions of Dualism

Modern versions of Cartesian Dualism can be found in

the writings of Sir John Eccles (Eccles, 1970, 1974, 1994;

Popper and Eccles, 1977), Wilder Penfield (1975), and

Roger Sperry (1969).

Sir John Eccles. Physiologist Sir John Eccles who was

awarded the 1963 Nobel Prize in Medicine and

Physiology for explaining how nerve impulses are

transmitted from neuron to neuron is an example of a

contemporary interactional dualist who believes that

mind and brain are two fundamental elements that interact

one upon the other (Eccles, 1970, 1974, 1994). He

acknowledges the fact that we can direct our brain to

make any movement we wish by simply thinking a

thought. From the first-person point of view our minds act

on our brains. They are two fundamental elements. The

difference between the mind and brain and the fact that

they are not identical is dramatically experienced, for

instance, by individuals with spinal cord injuries and

those who are afflicted with diseases such as

Parkinsonism that involve a general slowing down and

weakening of bodily movement accompanied by

involuntary muscle tremors. For such afflicted individuals

the performance of voluntary movement or any planned

action is extremely difficult, no matter how strong the

desire, purpose, will, or intent may be. There is the

immensely complex neural action of the brain that

interposes itself as a barrier between the intention to act

and the act itself.


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Building upon the differences he observed between

conscious experience and what goes on during

neurological processing, Eccles reasons that such

differences occur because of a fundamental ontological

difference between conscious experience and the matter-

energy world. Supposing the body to consist only of

physical energy and the mind, being nonphysical, to

embody no physical energy, Eccles argues for the

existence of “critically poised neurons” that require only a

“vanishing small” amount of energy (similar to the role

assigned by Descartes to the pineal gland) that are the

sites at which mind (totally devoid of physical energy)

interacts with the body (totally constituted by physical

energy) (Eccles, 1974, p. 100).

Wilder Penfield. “Can the mind be explained by what is

known about the brain? If not, which is the more

reasonable of the two possible hypotheses: that man‟s

being is based on one element, or on two?” (Penfield,

1975, p. xiii)?

Penfield eventually came to the conclusion from his

studies of the brain that the mind has a distinct reality

from the body, through intimately related to and

dependent on the body.

“For myself, after a professional lifetime spent

trying to discover how the brain accounts for the

mind, it comes as a surprise now to discover,

during this final examination of the evidence,

that the dualist hypothesis seems the more

reasonable of the two possible

explanations…What a thrill it is, then, to

discover that the scientist, too, can legitimately

believe in the existence of the spirit!” (p. 85)

Mind is a very distinctive reality, something in its own

right, which did things with brain mechanisms in its own

way, which has“energy” of its own.

“The mind must be viewed as a basic element in

itself. One might call it a medium, an essence, a

soma. That is to say, it has a continuing

existence… The mind has energy. The form of

that energy is different from that of neuronal

potentials that travel the axone pathways”

(Penfield, 1975, pp. 48, 81).

Consciousness, or mind, is something not reducible to

brain mechanisms. “The mind is a separate but related

element…attached to the action of a certain mechanism

within the brain” (Penfield, 1975, p. 85)

“After years of striving to explain the mind on the

basis of brain-action alone, I have come to the

conclusion that it is simpler (and far easier to be

logical) if one adopts the hypothesis that our

being does consist of two fundamental

elements…Because it seems to me certain that it

will always be quite impossible to explain the

mind on the basis of neuronal action within the

brain, and because it seems to me that the mind

develops and matures independently throughout

an individual‟s life as though it were a

continuing element, and because a computer

(which the brain is) must be programmed and

operated by an agency capable of independent

understanding, I am forced to choose the

proposition that our being is to be explained on

the basis of two fundamental elements”

(Penfield, 1975, p. 80).

The neuron, brain, body is a physical representation, a

particular code that “stands for” thought, represents

thought, transmits thought while not containing thought.

“The mind vanishes when the highest brain-

mechanism ceases to function due to injury or

due to epileptic interference or anesthetic

drug……What happens when the mind

vanishes? There are two obvious answers to that

question…two alternatives – whether man‟s

being is to be explained on the basis of one or

two elements. If the first alternative is chosen,

the mind no longer exists when it vanishes, since

it is only a function of brain action. Mind is

recreated each time the highest brain-mechanism

goes into normal action. In this case, one must

try to see the mind as the action of a specialized

mechanism of the brain…Or, if one chooses the

second, dualistic alternative, the mind must be

viewed as a basic element in itself. One might

then call it a medium, an essence, a soma. That is

to say, it has a continuing existence. In this basis,

one must assume that although the mind is silent

when it no longer has its special connection to

the brain, it exists in the silent intervals and takes

over control when the highest brain-mechanism

does go into action…Does this seem to be an

improbable explanation? It is not so improbable,

to my mind, as the alternative expectation – that

the highest brain mechanism should itself

understand, and reason, and direct voluntary

action and decide where attention should be

directed and what the computer must learn, and

record, and reveal on demand” (Penfield, 1975,

pp. 81-82).


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“The mind directs, and the mind-mechanism

executes. It carries the message. As Hiprocrates

expressed it so long ago, “the brain is

messenger” to consciousness. Or, as one might

express it now, the brain‟s highest mechanism

[i.e., “the integrative neuronal action, which

makes consciousness possible is localized in the

higher brain-stem rather than in the cerebral

cortex,” p. 83] is the “messenger” between the

mind and the other mechanisms of the brain…As

Aristotle expressed it, the mind is „attached to

the brain‟…Or, to express it another way, the

highest brain-mechanism is the mind‟s

executive. Somehow, the executive accepts

directions from the mind and passes it on to

various mechanisms of the brain….These two,

the highest mechanisms and the sensory-motor

mechanism, coordinate sensory-input and motor-

output in accordance with the purpose and the

direction-of-attention of the mind” (Penfield,

1975, pp. 46, 84)

Roger Sperry’s “Emergent Interactionism”. Roger

Sperry, the California Institute of Technology

neuroscientist whose split-brain research earned him a

Nobel Prize in 1981, in 1969 proposed a solution to the

mind-body problem he called “emergent interactionism”

or “idealistic materialism” as a compromise between

idealism (or mentalism) or the hypothesis that

consciousness (mind) creates form (brain) and

materialism or the hypothesis that form (brain) creates

consciousness (brain). “A mutual interdependence is

recognized…The neurophysiology…controls the mental

effects, and the mental properties in turn control the

neurophysiology” (Sperry, 1969, p. 534). “Emergent

interactionism” is a combination form of

epiphenomenalism and interactionism asserting that “the

conscious phenomena of subjective experience do interact

on the brain processes exerting an active causal influence”

while also maintaining that the mind is not a thing but

incidental to the body (Sperry, 1969, p. 533).

“Elemental physiological aspects of brain activity are

used to build…emergent qualities of awareness…

Unifying forces [within the brain] cause a pattern of

excitatory events to function as an entity in brain

dynamics…[allowing] the brain process…[to be] able to

detect and to react to the pattern properties of its own

excitation…detect[ing] the overall qualities of different

kinds and species of cerebral process and respond[ing] to

these as entities rather than to their individual cellular

components” (Sperry, 1969, pp. 534-535)

Sperry: Mind is still an epiphenomenon of the brain

“Larger circuit-system configurations…have

their own dynamics in cerebral activity with their

own qualities and properties. They interact

causally with one another…It is the emergent

dynamic properties of certain of these higher

specialized cerebral processes that are interpreted

to be the substance of consciousness” (Sperry,

1969, p. 534). … The conscious properties of

cerebral patterns are directly dependent on the

action of the component neural elements”

(Sperry, 1969, p. 534)

Sperry: Mind is different from brain.

“At the same time the conscious properties of

brain excitation are conceived to be something

distinct and special in their own right. they are

“different from and more than” the collected sum

of the neuro-physico-chemical events out of

which they are built….Conscious properties of

the brain processes are more molar and

holistic…and transcend the details of nerve

impulse traffic in the cerebral networks in the

same way that the properties of the organism

transcend the properties of its cells” (Sperry,

1969, p. 533)

Sperry: No independence of mind from brain. While

on the on hand accepting the existence of “potent mental

forces that transcend the material elements in cerebral

function,” emergent interactionism on the other hand

denies that “these mental forces can exist apart from the

brain processes of which they are a direct property”

(Sperry, 1969, p. 534). Consciousness is still regarded as

“properties of cerebral patterns” and as sustained by

physio-chemical processes. Without the action of the

component neural elements, subjective mental phenomena

become extinguished and disappear.

“Consciousness [is] an integral part of the brain

process itself and an essential constituent of the

action…Conscious experience…is…a dynamic

emergent property of cerebral excitation. As

such, conscious experience becomes inseparably

tied to the material brain process with all of its

structural and physiological constraints” (Sperry,

1969, p. 533) ….


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Sperry: Mind can causally affect the brain.

“Just as the holistic properties of the organism

have causal effects that determine the course and

fate of its constitutent cells and molecules, so in

the same way, the conscious properties of

cerebral activity…have analogous causal effects

in brain function that control subset events in the

flow pattern of neural excitement” (Sperry, 1969,

p. 533).

Sperry qualifies his remarks about the effects that

conscious experience can affect underlying brain

functioning, however.

Sperry: Mind cannot intervene, interfere, or disrupt

physiological processes, only “supervene.”

“When it is inferred that conscious forces shape

the flow pattern of cerebral excitation, it is not

meant to imply that the properties of

consciousness intervene, interfere, or in any way

disrupt the physiology of brain cell activation.

The accepted biophysical laws for the generation

and transmission of nerve impulses…are in no

way violated…Although the mental properties in

brain activity…do not directly intervene in

neuronal physiology, they do supervene,…as a

result of higher cerebral interactions that involve

integration between large processes and whole

patterns of activity,…the more elemental physio-

chemical forces, just as the properties of the

molecules supersede the nuclear forces in

chemical interaction” (Sperry, 1969, pp. 533-

534).

“The subjective mental phenomena are conceived

to influence and to govern the flow of nerve

impulse traffic by virtue of their encompassing

emergent properties [arising from the interaction

and integration of larger circuit system

configurations of higher specialized cerebral

processes]...Individual nerve impulses…are

simply carried along or shunted this way and that

by the prevailing overall dynamics of the whole

active process (in principle – just as drops of

water are carried along by the local eddy in a

stream) (Sperry, 1969, p. 534).

The Problems with Dualism

Separation from nature. People who believe Cartesian

Dualism generally think that ideas have little to do with

the living flesh. They think of their hair, hands, heart, and

brain as natural events, while not considering their

thoughts, emotions, ideals, and values as natural events in

the same terms. After all, the flesh seems physical and

ideas do not. It becomes difficult to see how there can be

any valid interactions between emotional states and

physical ones. Considering their body as physical and a

part of nature and ideas as mental and apart from nature,

when they identify themselves with their minds, they

come to feel separated from their body and from nature

itself. Nature and spirit become divided and becomes the

context in which they encounter the events of their lives.

Our bodies were relegated to nature, and our minds and

souls to God.

Separation from one’s own body. Having artificially

separated themselves from nature, Cartesian Dualists do

not trust it, but often experience it as an adversary. To

some degree or another, people who believe Cartesian

Dualism come to feel divorced from their bodies, treating

it as if it were a machine with interchangeable parts,

effectively separating themselves from their own bodies

and bodily processes as if they somehow stood apart from

them. Losing their sense of identification with their body

and their sense of having any control over their health,

illness becomes something that is thrust upon them by

some impersonal force they are powerless to control.

The problem of interaction. For spiritualist dualism the

main logical problem is that of “interaction”: How can

living consciousness interact with “dead” physical matter?

How can these totally unlike things (body of flesh and

mind of spirit) causally interact with each other? The fact

of experience is that nonphysical things like ideas, beliefs,

purposes, plans, fears, desires, intentions, expectations,

values, and ideals do exist, do play a part in bringing

about physical change in the world, in important and

significant ways. The question is: How does this happen?

.


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The ghost in the machine. Gilbert Ryle (1949/1963), in

his book, The Concept of Mind, describes the solution to

the mind-body problem posed by Cartesian Dualism as

creating yet another problem: the problem of “the ghost

in the machine”: How could a ghost (or spirit), a purely

nonphysical entity, possibly interact with a body (or

matter), understood as composed of insentient, inert,

passive, lifeless machine-parts? Obviously, mind and

body can interact because they do interact. But how do

they? Unfortunately, we become caught in a logical

conundrum as soon as we claim that mind and body are so

completely different – “two authentic orders of existents

with completely independent ontologies” (Eccles, 1994,

p. 167) - that they could not possibly interact. Descartes

and his followers (Malebranche, Leibniz, Berkeley, Reid)

“solved” the problem by appealing to supernatural

intervention (omnipotent God) to permit or cause the

interaction.

Fuzzy “dividing” line between mental and physical

things. . Descartes drew the absolute line between

experiencing and nonexperiencing entities at humans;

animals were mere machines with no feelings. We now

hold this view as implausible given the facts of ethology,

comparative psychology, and neurology. Drawing an

absolute line between those actions and events, bodies

and things that can be described in nonsentient terms

alone and sentient terms alone seems arbitrary in light of

current scientific evidence. Crystals and DNA molecules,

for instance, show signs of memory; atoms and molecules

have propensities toward selectivity and significance.

Cells recognize invading viruses and store memories of

previous encounters. Chemical elements show affinities

toward certain kinds of molecular arrangements and not

others. Organ and cell, bacterium and virus, DNA and

RNA, molecule and atom also seem to possess their own

rudimentary, codified awareness and memory. As Griffin

(1997) observes: “Given the fact that humans (and at least

many animals) are not fully explicable physicalistically,

would it not be strange if the rest of the universe were (p.

124)?

Monism

Galileo, Newton, Boyle, and other scientists of the 17th

and 18th century, however, wondered “Why should the

human mind be the only thing in the physical world that

cannot be understood in physical terms?” The solution

they decided upon was to regard mind and body as

somehow identical (monism) – the mind is actually

nothing more than an aspect of brain functioning.

Materialist monism avoids dualism‟s problem of

interaction by affirming the identity of mind and body.

Monists attempt to explain reality in terms of one

fundamental element. Monists can be either idealists or

materialists.

Monistic idealism hypothesizes that ideas (or

consciousness) are the fundamental element and that

everything in the universe, including atoms and

molecules, cells and viruses, plants and animals, and

human bodies are a creation of consciousness (mind).

Monistic materialism hypothesizes that matter is the

fundamental element and that everything in the universe,

including cognitions, emotions, and behavior can be

explained in terms of matter. All psychological terms

refer to nothing more than bodily reactions of some kind.

“Body am I entirely, and nothing more; and soul

is only the name of something in the body”

(Nietzsche, German philosopher).

“A man is what he eats” (Feuerbach, German

philosopher).

“Thought is a secretion of the brain” (Cabanis,

18th century physiologist).

“The relation between thought and the brain is

roughly of the same order as between bile and

the liver or urine and the bladder” (Vogt,

German biologist)

It has long been a principle in physiological psychology

that mind is nothing more than the result of the activity of

the brain. Matter is the only reality, and therefore

everything must be explained in terms of matter. Matter

alone is real; a human being is simply his body. Sperry in

1969 described the prevailing view of twentieth century

science:

“Most investigators of cerebral function will

violently resist any suggestion that the causal

sequence of electro-physico-chemical elements

in the brain… could in any way be influenced by

conscious or mental forces…. It is the working

man‟s faith in the neuroscience – that goes back

to near the turn of the century - that a complete

objective explanation of brain function is

possible in principle without any reference to the

subjective mental phenomena. Whatever the

stuff of consciousness, it is generally agreed in

neuroscience that it does not interact back

causally on the brain‟s electrophysiology or its

biochemistry” (Sperry, 1969, pp. 532).


71

On this view, all psychological terms such as creativity, love,

awareness, purpose, meaning really refer to some kind of

physiological events or processes. The psyche (mind) has no

actuality in its own right, distinct from the brain. Experience is

thought to be entirely a product of the brain. As philosopher of

mind John Searle (1992) put it: “Consciousness gets squirted

out by the behavior of the brain” (p. 112). Like heat from a

flame, consciousness emerges out of the fiery concatenation of

brain chemicals; when the brain dies so is the consciousness to

which it has given birth extinguished forever. Mind is really

only as an effect, not a cause. Consciousness is simply one

more “material property” of the brain (Searle, 1992, p. 55). The

self becomes “a mental representation…assembled from the bits

of raw sensory data” combined by the left and right orientation

association areas of the posterior sections of the parietal lobe

(Newberg & D‟Aquili, 2001, p. 28-29).

The quality of mind called “consciousness” emerged out of

brain evolution just as the quality of “wetness” of water

emerged out of a particular combination of hydrogen atoms and

oxygen atoms, neither of which of themselves possess the

quality of wetness of water. Sensations and perceptions,

learning and memory, thought and language, personality and

psychological disorders, social influence and relations are

nothing more than physical states of brain processes or a

particular configuration of neurons - none of which possess

consciousness of any sort to any degree.

Some materialist monism avoids dualism‟s problem of where to

“draw the line” between sentient and insentient things by not

drawing a line at all – insentience goes all the way up! They

deny that psychological language need be used at all when

talking about experience and behavior. These “eliminative

materialists” would have us all talk entirely in behavioristic or

neurological terms (i.e., in terms of stimulus-response action

patterns or specific neurotransmitters or neuronal action

potentials).

Other materialist monists acknowledge the existence of mind as

an epiphenomenon of brain activity as well as its interactive

effect on the brain (“downward causation”) but everything sent

down from the psyche to the brain has been previously sent up

from the brain. In this version of monism, mind is not a distinct

entity at all but simply one more link in the deterministic chain

of cause and effect produced by the brain‟s emergent properties.

Decision making activity may be an effect of physical brain

processes, but that activity is not autonomous or free to exert

influence on the brain, otherwise its independence of brain

processing would have to be recognized, and a form of dualism

acknowledged. The alleged identity of matter and experience

does not go both ways, therefore. All experience has matter but

not no matter has experience. Philosopher Herbert Feigel

observes an implication of this position - the fact that “nothing

in the least like a psyche is ascribed to lifeless matter” makes

the language of psychology applicable “only to an extremely

small part of the world” (Feigel, 1960, pp.32, 33).

Another variant version of ephiphenomenalism called

“functionalism” regards the material components of the brain

as relatively unimportant in the emergent of mind – it is how the

components are organized that matters and makes all the

difference between mineral, vegetable, and animal bodies. An

analog may be drawn from the field of genetics. All genetic

material is composed of the same four nucleotide bases:

adenine, thymine, guanine, and cytosine. It is the appropriate

sequence of bases on each chromosome (matter) that constitutes

the genetic code (mind), just as the requisite sequence of

physical letters constitutes the code for information transmitted

by the letters. Another analog is often drawn between the

software program of a computer (mind) and the hardware

components of the computer (brain). In all such cases, the

gestalt that emerges from a particular configuration of elements

has no identity apart from the elements that compose it.

A contemporary example of epiphenomenalism can be found in

Andrew Newberg and Eugene D‟Aquili‟s 2001 book on the

neurophysiology of spiritual experiences titled Why God Won’t

Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief.

Mind is the phenomenon of thoughts, memories, and

emotions that arise from the perceptual processes of

the brain. In simpler terms, brain makes mind. Science

can demonstrate no way for the mind to occur except

as a result of the neurological functioning of the brain.

Without the brain‟s ability to process various types of

input in highly sophisticated ways, the thoughts and

feelings that constitute the mind would simply not

exist. Conversely, the brain‟s irresistible drive to create

the most vivid, sophisticated perceptions possible

means that it cannot help but generate the thoughts and

emotions that are the basic elements of mind.

Neurologically speaking, then, the mind cannot exist

without the brain, and the brain cannot exist without

striving to create the mind….Mind needs brain, brain

creates mind, and…the two are essentially the same

entity seen from different points of view (Newberg and

D‟Aquili, 2001, pp. 33-34).

Advantages of monistic materialism. Monistic materialism is

parsimonious in that it reduces everything to one ultimate

reality, it avoids the mind-problem bridging the “chasm”

between body and mind since they are already “of one piece,”

and it does away with the mystery of immaterial forces (such as

the immortal soul or God) operating the physical universe.


72

Problems with Materialist Monism

The problem of emergence. This “solution” to the

mind-body problem, however, has problems of its own. If

the body is an insentient, inert, passive, lifeless machine –

a dualistic premise that the monists uncritically accepted

– then how does insentient brain give rise to sentient

mind? How can lifeless, inert, passive physical matter

gives rise to creative, active, iving consciousness?

David Ray Griffin (1997) asks:

Materialists typically speak of the brain as

composed of „insentient neurons.‟ What can it

mean to say that our mind is identical with the

brain – that is, that our experience is somehow

identical with a large aggregation of

nonexperiencing things? Nothing that we know

about these neurons from biology and brain

physiology explains why the joint activity of

such entities should give rise to conscious

experience (p. 119).

Although the problem of explaining how conscious

experience emerged out of insentient matter in the first

place is a problem not only for materialists but for dualists

as well, the reasons that materialists give for rejecting

dualism are evocative. “[W]hat sort of chemical process

could lead to the springing into existence of something

non-physical? No enzyme can catalyze the production of

a spook!” (Smart, 1979, p. 168-169). “Emergence of mind

from no mind at all is sheer magic” (Wright,1977, p. 82).

Given the phenomenological fact that ideas (and therefore

mind) exist, this form of materialism obviously requires

rethinking.

Equating mind and matter is a categorical mistake.

How can two things that are totally identical things

emerge as distinctly different phenomenonal events in our

conscious experience? David Ray Griffin (1988)

observes that the identist solution to the mind-body

problem proposed by monism involves a “the category

mistake;” that is “mind” and “body” are two different

conceptual terms referring to two different types of

experiential data (Ryle, 1949/1963). Things which appear

to us from without as perceptual images differ from things

as they appear to us from within using mental imagery.

The phrase “mental processes” does not mean or refer to

the same kind of thing as “physical processes” even

though the two topics can be labeled with the same word

– “processes.” To think so is to overlook differences

between the word and the experience it names. To argue

that mind (one quality) emerged out of body (another

quality) confuses two different experiential matters under

a single category. A thing that appears as something “for

itself” (mind) is categorically different from a thing that

appears as something “for others” (body). The emergence

of something with experience out of something that is

totally devoid of experience is a categorically different

kind of emerging.

Primary vs. secondary qualities denied. In denying the

distinction between mind and brain, materialist monism

denies the distinction between primary qualities

(attributes of physical things) and secondary qualities

(attributes of sensory perception).

Division between theory and practice. In denying a

distinction between mind and brain, materialist monism

creates a dualism between theory that says all motivating

power comes from the outside and our everyday practice

of living as if we are free, autonomous, self-determining

individuals.

Denial of autonomy, self-determination, values. Griffin (1988) points out that the monist supposition that

our bodies is comprised of matter that is in itself devoid

of awareness, memory, or experience logically requires

them to deny the existence of an experiencing mind, on

the grounds that to grant such a theory requires an

interaction between experiencing and nonexperiencing

things, and imply a sort of dualism. In denying the

distinction between mind and brain, material monists are

logically forced to also deny that our conscious

experience has any degree of autonomy or self-

determination or that “once [consciousness] has been

squirted out, it then has a life of its own” because that

would logically imply that “consciousness could cause

things that could not be explained by the causal behavior

of the neurons” (Searle, 1992, p. 112). Materialist

monism maintains that nothing but material things exist

(or their epiphenomenal aspects and qualities). This also

rules out not only the nonmaterial mind also all

nonmaterial entities called “values” (e.g., truth, beauty,

goodness) that exist somehow prior to human experience.

Denial of sentience in matter is pure metaphysical

speculation. Essential science does not deny the reality

of the directly known. The one thing we know directly is

our own conscious experience. We do not know the

objects of the physical world, except as transduced and

mediated through our central nervous system and

cognitive interpretative frameworks. We do not know

objects in themselves, only how they appear.

Materialist‟s supposition that physical objects in and of

and for themselves are composed of “dead” matter is a

result of pure metaphysical speculation, just as the

dualist‟s supposition that brain cells are ontologically

different in kind from our conscious experience is pure

metaphysical speculation.


73

Materialists are really dualists in disguise. Griffin (1997)

observed that materialist monists who take an epiphenomenal

viewpoint regarding the nature of mind are really

cryptodualists. While thinking of matter exclusively as totally

devoid of experience, they also acknowledge that things with

experience also exist. The world is composed of experiencing

and nonexperiencing things. Experience as far as the monists

are concerned, however, does not go both ways. Consciousness

is a feature or property of the brain without making the brain

conscious.

In some instances, in their effort to avoid the problems inherent

in the traditional Cartesian dualistic view while simultaneously

recognizing the need to acknowledge the phenomenological

facts of conscious experience, materialists seem forced to

attribute those qualities that are usually attributed to the mind or

self or personality, to the brain instead. It is not the mind that

has the ability to form intentions, retrieve memories, make

plans, and process information but the brain instead. Neuro-

psychologists are then forced to talk about “the ability of the

attention area (of the brain) to form intentions and act upon

them” and “the brain‟s irresistible drive to create…means that it

cannot help but generate thoughts and emotions” (Newberg &

D‟Aquili, 2001, pp. 30, 33). The brain almost seems live with

purposes and intents of its own. But neither do they want to slip

into a form of panpsychism and attribute mind to matter, and so

they remain stuck with the classical mind-body problem

unresolved.

Neurology cannot completely explain how such a thing

can happen – how a nonmaterial mind can rise from

mere biological functions; how the flesh and blood

machinery of the brain can suddenly become “aware.”

Science and philosophy, in fact, have struggled with

this question for centuries, but no definitive answers

have been found, and none is clearly on the horizon

(Newberg and D‟Aquili, 2001, p. 32)

The reason no answers have been found is that the problem

itself is based on faulty premises (i.e., that matter is mindless).

As writer and mystic Jane Roberts (1970, 1972, 1986a) points

out, it is a metaphysical, scientific, and creative error to separate

matter from consciousness.

Materialism is motivated by the need to explain, control,

and predict reality. The philosophical position of materialist

monism is motivated by a desire to have a completely

explicable, predictable, controllable reality understood strictly

in three-dimensional physical terms. Such a physical reality

contains no inherent consciousness or subjectivity of any kind,

no possibility for paranormal influences (“action at a distance”),

no possibility of life after death.

Materialism mistakenly assumes a form of “naïve realism”

(i.e., what you see is what it is) Modern day materialism has

carried forward the false analogy that the way a thing appears

on the outside is the way it appears on the inside. If something

appears to be inert, hard, stable, solid, immovable, “dead” on

the outside extrinsically, then that is the way it is on the inside

intrinsically. Griffin (1997) notes that

“the most important philosophical implication of

quantum physics, [as] philosopher of science Milic

Capek (1991) has argued, is that it has shown the

falsity of the analogy assumed by [both] Descartes and

Newton between inert matter as it appears to our

senses and the ultimate units of which it is composed”

(Griffin, 1997, p. 134).

Quantum physics has shown that physical matter does not

inherently possess the qualities of solidity, color, stability,

inertness that we perceive it to have using our physical senses.

From the transpersonal perspective of Seth-Jane Roberts:

You observe the outside aspect of objects. Your

physical senses permit you to perceive the exterior

forms to which you then react, but your physical

senses to some extent force you to perceive reality in

this manner, and the inside vitality within matter and

form is not so apparent. …Physical form is one of the

camouflages that reality adapts. The camouflage is

real, and yet there is a much greater reality within it –

the vitality that gave it form. Your physical senses then

allow you to perceive the camouflage, for they

are attuned to it in a highly specialized manner. But to

sense the reality within the form requires a different

sort of attention, and more delicate manipulations than

the physical senses provide” (Roberts, 1972, pp. 12-

13)

Category mistakes. The view that all psychological terms

(e.g., creativity, love, self) really refer to some kind of

physiological event or process has been criticized by

psychologist David Bannister as involving what Gilbert Ryle

(1949) called a “category mistake” - that is, mistaking two

things as similar that are actually categorically different (e.g.,

confusing galvanic skin response as a physiological index of

anxiety with the psychological experience of anxiety, or

defining psychological terms in physiological concepts as in

“the biochemical basis of indecision,” or describing

physiological processes in psychological terms “the brain sees

and recognizes color” or “the brain can outwit a natural time

delay between the moment visual information hits the retina and

the recognition of that information by higher brain regions”).


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Factually, “psychological and physiological concepts

stem from such different semantic networks that they

cannot be meaningfully related into a subsystem,” any

more than chemistry and sociology or biology and

astronomy can be meaningfully related to develop, say, a

chemical sociology or a biological astronomy (Bannister,

1958, p. 229). Physiology and psychology deal with

different domains of experience. Neither the

psychological activity of “doing neuroscience research”

nor the social situation of “being a physiologist” are a

legitimate part of the subject matter of physiological

psychology. “Self” is not a physiological concept, it is a

purely psychological one. Psychology and physiology are

logically distinct construct systems in their own right

because they deal with radically different phenomena and

with theoretical explanatory systems that employ

language constructs that are semantically unrelated.

Monistic materialism is not an accurate representation of

the facts of experience. To say that all psychological

terms really refer to nothing more than bodily reactions of

some kind is to make what Gilbert Ryle (1949) called a

“category mistake.” The brain can be publicly observed, it

occupies space, and can be dissected and weighted and

bottled. None of this is true of our thoughts or emotions.

Although thoughts and emotions may accompany brain

processes, this does not mean that they are brain

processes. To say that thought is really made of brain

processes is as logical as saying that apples are really

made of oranges. A persons awareness of yellow, for

instance, is not the same thing as the movement of the

visual signal from the retina to the 300 million nerve cells

in the primary visual cortex and out again to the

extrastriate cortex with its immensely complex induction

of millions of neuronal discharges though numberless

complicated pathways and branchings of thousands of

pyramidal cells projecting out into hundreds of cortical

columns or more. It makes sense to talk about neural

impulses in terms of “fast” or “slow” or “excitatory” or

“inhibitory”, but it makes no sense to talk about the

awareness of yellow in those terms. Conversely, we can

describe our experience of yellow as “vivid”, “clear,”

“pleasant,” “calming” but it such terms could not sensibly

be applied to description of neural transmissions. When

you burn your hand on hot stove, the pain you feel is

nothing like that described in textbooks of

neuropsychology.

The Physical Reality of Thought.

Most college students learn about the physical reality of

thought and emotion in the biological chapters of general

psychology textbooks that describe the electrical and

chemical foundations of experience and behavior (i.e., the

structure of neurons, how neurons communicate, neural

and hormonal systems, brain structures and functions, and

how neurotransmitters influence attention, thoughts,

emotions, and behavior). They learn how the smallest

neuron within our body contributes to our psychological

and emotional experience. They learn how “our proud

human consciousness rests upon the vast „unconscious‟

integrity of our physical being” (Roberts, 1981b, p. 31).

They also learn about health psychology and how

psychological and behavioral factors directly and

indirectly influence physical health and illness. They may

learn, for instance, how the behavior of aerobic exercise

(jogging) reduces the psychological experience of

depression by its direct physiological effect on the

autonomic nervous system (increasing arousal) and

neurotransmitters (increasing serotonin levels) (Jacobs,

1994). Most of us are aware how physical reactions

influence psychological states as anyone who drinks

alcohol, takes psychotherapeutic drugs, or eaten a

satisfying meal can testify.

The interaction of thought and body. Students of

psychology also learn that is not just that thoughts and

emotions have an electrical and chemical reality in

addition to their recognized mental aspects, as of course

they do, but that thoughts and emotions also trigger

electrical and chemical reactions in the body. Each one of

our thoughts and emotions represent a an eliciting

stimulus that trigger our physical actions, directly

affecting the behavior of our body, bringing about

changes in our autonomic nervous system, through its

sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions, and in the

glands of our endocrine system, altering our entire

physical body at any given time. Our bodies are changed

biologically by our thoughts, as anyone has felt nervous

over an upcoming exam, anxious about a public

presentation, or upset over an argument with a friend can

testify. The body responds to our thoughts, feelings, and

beliefs that form the interior environment of concepts.

Dreams and thoughts and psychological experiences all

have an electrical and chemical reality that becomes

retained in electrically and chemically coded data within

the cells. This means thoughts interact with the body and

become part of it.


75

The transactional relationship between body mind and

mind body operates according to what Elmer Green,

pioneer in the development of proprioceptive feedback

theory and biofeedback techniques, called the

“psychophysiological principle:”

Every change in the physiological state is

accompanied by an appropriate change in the


unconscious, and conversely, every change in the


unconscious, is accompanied by an appropriate

change in the physiological state (Green, Green,

& Walters, 1970, p. 3)

In other words, the effects of the body are felt in the mind

and the effects of the mind are felt in the body.

According to Elmer Green and associates, it is the

psychophysiological principle that makes psychosomatic

self-regulation possible. It is also what made Mr.

Wright‟s placebo healing response possible as well.

As electrical and chemical actions, thoughts and emotions

directly affect the physical health of the body system.

Beliefs that foster apathy, despair, or hopelessness are

biologically destructive, causing the body to

automatically suppress the immune system and lower

bodily defenses, change body chemistry and alter

hormonal balances, stressing the body‟s vitality and

natural defense system and initiating disease conditions

(Herbert & Cohen, 1993). Health psychology shows that

how we physiologically react to environmental stressors

depends on how we psychologically appraise them which,

in turn, influences how we behaviorally cope with them

(Lazarus & Folkman, 1984).

How one responds – intellectually, emotionally,

or spiritually – to one‟s problems has a great deal

to do with the way the human body functions.

One‟s confidence or lack of it, in the prospects of

recovery from serious illness affects the

chemistry of the body. The belief system

converts hope, robust expectations, and the will

to live into plus factors in any contest of forces

involving disease (Cousins, 1981, p. 205)

In terms of the body‟s health and illness, then, our mental

states are indeed highly important. A person‟s private

experience of health and illness occurs not only within the

context of his or her personality type, personal habits, and

levels of social support (Taylor, 2002), but basically

cannot be separated from the larger framework of his or

her philosophic and religious beliefs, cultural and political

environment, psychological and sociological status. The

individual‟s personal experience of health and illness

must be viewed in the light of all these issues. The

question of health and illness simply cannot be answered

from a biological standpoint.

Our spiritual and psychological abilities add a dimension

to our life and experience that is biologically pertinent.

Placebos demonstrate that there is no real separation

between mind and body. Our mind is as natural as our

body; our body is as spiritual as our mind. Body and spirit

dwell in a natural framework. Your thoughts and

emotions are as natural as the cells within your body, as

any portion of your body, and as real. Our thoughts and

emotions are a part of nature and not apart from nature












A transpersonal psychology of mind-body communication

and healing recognizes that the same power that moves

your mind forms your body. It acknowledges that there is

no difference between the energy that shapes your ideas

and that heals your finger. Consciousness is not limited

within the skull but circulates throughout the entire body.

You don‟t just have a body, you are your body. Your

body is your spirit in flesh The spirit speaks with a


spirit. While we are physical creatures in the three-

dimensional world of time and space; there is no division

between the mental and the physical.


76

PNI

Through what biological pathways do these

psychodynamic, cognitive, environmental and

phenomenological variables work their magic? The

biological approach called psycho-neuro-immunology

(PNI) that specializes in the study of the interactions

between the mind (psycho-), central nervous system

(neuro-), and the immune system (immunology) provides

some answers.

Figure 2-3 summarizes seven kinds of experimental

evidence that identify specific linkages among behavioral,

neural, endocrine, and immune functions by which mind

modulation of body functions is thought to occur (Adler,

Felton, & Cohen, 2000).

Figure 2-12

Evidence for Mind-Body Communication in the

Immune System

The findings of psychoneuroimmunology and

related fields reveal: (1) the highly interactive,

feedback-laced nature of psychophysiological

functioning; (2) multiple ways in which

particular alterations of consciousness, behavior,

bodily structure and processes are mediated; and

(3) the immense specificity with which

significant changes are happening, moment by

moment, throughout the nervous, endocrine, and

immune systems (Murphy, 1992, p. 23).

PNI documents how mind and body operate as a single,

integrated system. It indicates possible physical

mechanisms and pathways by which mind-body

communication and healing may occur. It helps us

understand how Mr. Wright‟s autonomic-endocrine-

immune systems could be activated by his belief in a cure

and reveals human nature‟s capacity for creative,

transformative change with appropriate focus and belief.

Psychoneuroimmunology.. Psychoneuroimmunology

(PNI) has demonstrated the existence of bidirectional

communication pathways between the central nervous

system (the brain via the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal

axis) and the body‟s immune system, involving responses

of many cells to multiple stimuli, with each providing

important regulatory control over the other (Ader et al.,

2000). The observation that various stresses (such as final

examinations) can alter immune system functioning

indicates that biochemical links established between the

immune and nervous systems are also pathways for inner

communication of thoughts, feelings, expectations,

desires, fears, and beliefs. The establishment of a

reciprocal relationship between the immune system and

behavioral, psychological, and social factors have

involved numerous academic disciplines working in

collaboration, including: biochemistry, biophysics,

endocrinology, immunology, microbiology, neurobiology,

neuropharmacology, pathology, physiology, psychiatry,

and psychology. A number of diverse strategies have

generally proven to have a positive effect in modulating

immune function response, including relaxation,

hypnosis, exercise, classical conditioning, self-disclosure,

perceived coping self-efficacy, and cognitive-behavioral

interventions (Kiecolt-Glaser & Glaser, 1992).

Modern research in psycho-neuro-immunology (PNI) has

discovered that body tissues and organs distant from the

brain produce and have receptors for brain

neurotransmitters (e.g., endorphins originally thought to

be present only in the brain are produced by various parts

of the body that have receptors to receive them as well)

(Pert, 1997). Such discoveries coupled with the evidence

of human transformative capacity in studies of hypnosis,

the placebo effect, multiple personalities, spiritual and

miraculous healing indicate that a strong distinction

between the brain and the body is no longer tenable.

Candace Pert, research professor at the department of

physiology and biophysics at Georgetown University

Medical Center has written that there is a “need to start

thinking about how consciousness can be projected into

various parts of the body” (Pert, 1986, p. 16).

New work is now in progress that does not regard

religious belief or placebos simply as mere “artifact”

variables in investigations of healing whose effects are to

be minimized or controlled but are instead to be

understood and used (e.g., Sobel, 1990).

The American Psychologist in 2003, for instance,

published a series of articles summarizing

scientific research on the effects of religious

belief on health (Miller & Thoresen, 2003;

Powell, Shahabi, & Thoresen, 2003; Seeman,

Dubin, & Seeman, 2003; Hill & Pargament,

2003).

Physician Larry Dossey in his 1993 book

Healing Words: The Power of Prayer and the

Practice of Medicine documents controlled

scientific experiments that strongly support the

power of prayer to positively affect at a distant

high blood pressure, heart attacks, head aches,

and anxiety, including the activity of enzymes,

growth rates of leukemic white blood cells,

mutation rates of bacteria, germination of seeds

and growth rates of plants, firing rate of

pacemaker cells, healing rates of wounds, the

size of tumors, time requires to awaken from

anesthesia, and hemoglobin levels and rates of

hemolysis of red blood cells.


77

Figure 2-12. Evidence for Mind-Body Communication in the Immune System (adapted from Ader, Felton, & Cohen, 2000; Rossi, 1986, pp. 152-155)

Neuroanatomic and neurochemical evidence for the stimulation of lymphoid tissue (bone marrow,

thymus gland, spleen, tonsils, lymph nodes, etc.). through the action of neurons of the sympathetic

nervous system, that portion of the autonomic nervous system that is responsible for arousing the

body and mobilizing its energy in stressful situations. This sympathetic innervation of primary and

secondary lymphoid organs means that mind (via the central nervous system) has direct physical

access for influencing all organs of the immune system.

Observations that destroying or electrically stimulating areas within the hypothalamus result in

activation of the immune system, and conversely, activation of the immune system results in

inhibition or stimulation of the hypothalamus. Since the hypothalamus directs body maintenance

activities (eating, drinking, body temperature, sexual arousal, heart rate, blood pressure), helps

govern the endocrine system via the pituitary gland, and is linked to emotion and regulated by

higher brain centers via connections with the limbic system, the intercommunications between the

immune system and the hypothalamus may be open to influence by the mind.

Evidence that white blood cells of the immune system called lymphocytes bear receptor sites both

for a variety of hormones that are secreted into the bloodstream by the endocrine system and for

neurotransmitters that transmit neural impulses within the autonomic nervous system which

controls the glands and muscles of internal organs. There is also evidence that lymphocytes,

themselves, are capable of producing neuropeptides (complex molecules secreted by the brain,

spinal cord, glands, abdominal tissue, and organs) that circulate in the blood and lymph systems.

This means that all of the changes produced in the autonomic and endocrine systems by the mind

through hypnosis, biofeedback, and placebo response may be communicated to the immune system

as well, and vice versa.

The findings that activation of the immune system changes the level of circulating hormones and

neurotransmitters, and conversely, alteration of the level of circulating hormones or

neurotransmitters modifies activity of the immune system.

Data documenting that a variety of behavioral manipulations such as classical conditioning and

hypnosis are capable of influencing various parameters of immune functioning. For instance, when

the presentation of a neutral, distinctively aromatic scent (e.g., mint), the conditioned stimulus

(CS), if followed by injection of a drug that induces a temporary gastrointestinal upset and activates

immunologic response (e.g., chemotherapy), individuals will learn, in a single trial, not only to

avoid the mint scent – a conditioned olfactory aversion -- but also show conditioned enhancement

of a variety of specific and nonspecific immune responses when the CS is subsequently presented –

a conditioned immunological response.

Research showing that psychosocial factors (social support, social isolation, crowding, noise) have

the potential to influence the susceptibility to and/or the progression of a variety of pathological

anatomic, cellular, and chemical bodily processes, including infectious diseases such as

tuberculosis and pneumonia, autoimmune diseases such as asthma and rheumatoid arthritis, and

neoplastic diseases involving abnormal tissue formation.

Experimental and clinical studies in which psychological factors such as “stress” and depression

have been shown to be capable of influencing immune responses and the onset of disease

processes, depending on the individual‟s perception of and capacity to cope with the quantity and

quality of the stressful circumstances and the quality and quantity of immunogenic stimulation.


78

A variety of intervening variables have been

investigated as possible explanations for

producing healing placebo effects including

classical conditioning (Wickramasekera, 1980),

changes in response expectancy (Kirsch, 1990)

and transformation of meaning (Frank & Frank,

1991).

While necessarily speculative at this time, further work

drawing upon transpersonally-oriented mind-body

therapies (e.g., Achterberg, 1985; Gawain, 1979;

Houston, 1982; Lawlis, 1996; Leonard & Murphy, 1995;

Maltz, 1960; Masters & Houston, 1978; Rossi & Cheek,

1988; Walsh, 1999) could provide additional evidence of

the extent to which a change in inner focus and belief may

be translated into positive immunological changes and

improvements in health.

Psychoneuroimmunology.. PNI studies how the mind

(psycho), the brain and nervous system (neuro), and the

immune system (immunology) interact. Research

indicates that there is a “psychosomatic communication

network” operating that links thoughts and emotions with

the body and that this is how mental healing works, how

something purely mental – thoughts, beliefs, meaning,

intent, feelings – can have powerful physical effects on

the body, powerful enough to eliminate warts, kill the

tumor, lower blood pressure without drugs or surgery.

Materialism was the predominant philosophy of Western

medicine. Now PNI has encouraged a shift toward

dualism, seeing mind and body as isomorphic aspects of

each other.

Molecules of emotion. In 1972 neuroscientist Candace

Pert, former Chief of the Section on Brain Chemistry of

the Clinical Neuroscience Branch at the National Institute

of Mental Health, discovered the existence of opiate

receptors in the brain. Later her work led her to discover

the existence of neuropeptide receptors on immune cells.

Neuropeptides are molecules the brain uses to

communicate. Previously, neuropeptide receptors could

only be found in the brain. The existence of these

receptors on the cells in our immune system (along with

other research done that demonstrated the immune system

could be conditioned) provided hard evidence that the

immune system was not separate but an extension of the

brain. Neuropeptides have been found throughout the

body implying the existence of a vast mind-body

communication network linking mind and body together.

In a recent 1997 book titled Molecules of Emotion: Why

You Feel the Way You Feel, Candace Pert describes how

our thoughts and beliefs, wishes and intentions create our

emotions, These emotions, in turn, trigger the release of

neuropeptide molecules that then travel throughout the

body affecting the autonomic, endocrine, and immune

systems causing physical changes in the body (Pert,

1997). Pert believes that it is our emotions that are the

bridge between non-physical thought and the body.

If the body is conscious, then how conscious is it? What

sorts of communications occur within the body? PNI has

identifies some of the likely pathways that body system

communicate with each other. How deep and extensive

are these communications in fact? From the transpersonal

perspective of Seth-Jane Roberts (1997):

“Each most microscopic portion of the body is

conscious, strives toward its own goals of

development, and is in communication with all

other parts of the body…The molecules and even

the smaller aspects of the body act and react,

communicate, cooperate with each other, and

share each other‟s knowledge, so that one

particle of the body knows what is happening in

all other parts. Thus, the amazing organization

usually works in a smooth, natural fashion”

(Roberts, 1997, pp. 15-16)

We have seen how thoughts and beliefs, wishes and

intentions, feelings and emotions can have powerful

effects on the body and briefly noted how PNI has made

major steps in helping us understand the mechanisms the

mind uses to control the body. The astounding things the

mind can do to modulate the immune system (imagery) ,

negate the effects of drugs (MPD), melt tumors

(placebos), heal wounds with great rapidity (miraculous

cures), override our genetic programming (hypnosis),

reshape living flesh (stigmata) suggests that each of us,

ideally, possess the ability to influence our health and

control our physical body. Transpersonal psychology,

and transpersonal medicine in particular, seeks to explore

and harness these talents, powers, and abilities each of us

to some degree possess.

Our thoughts and beliefs, purposes, and intentions,

expectations and wishes, fears and desires, images and

attitudes, prejudices and faith are the important mental

elements that provide clues to what we need to be aware

of and acquire mastery over if we are to learn how to

acquire and use these powers and abilities.


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The Nonphysical Reality of Thought

We are all directly, immediately, and intimately familiar

with the nonphysical reality of our private thoughts and

emotions, dreams, and expectations, purposes and intents.

We can try to convey an idea to others through word and

action, and feel its effects, but we cannot see it or hold it

or point to it as we can a cup or a rock or a table.

Thoughts obviously do not take up space as neurons do

that you can pile one upon the other, measure and weigh.

As C.G. Jung (1960) said:

Psychic contents are non-spatial except in the

particular realm of sensation. What bulk can we

ascribe to thoughts? Are they small, large, long,

thin, heavy, fluid, straight, circular, or what? If

we wished to form a living picture of a non-

spatial, fourth-dimensional being, we could not

do better than to take thought for our model (pp.

347-348).

Physical instruments can probe your brain and measure

neurotransmitter levels of serotonin, dopamine, ACH, and

GABA at various synapses, but if I want to find out what

your thoughts are, I cannot find out by examining your

brain – I have to communicate with you and you have to

me. Brain imaging devices (e.g., PET, fMRI, EEG,

SPECT scans) can discover every single thing about what

every single atom and molecule in your brain is doing but

will tell me nothing about the specific contents of a single

thought.

Even though neuroscientists cannot discover any one idea,

emotion, or dream location residing in the brain cells, no

one would say that ideas, emotions, and dreams are

nonexistent for that reason, or deny their importance. In

fact, it is inner experience that must come first and that

gives importance to facts about brain, for those “facts”

would have little meaning without the initial experience

that they seek to explain.

No diagram of the brain will capture the interaction

between a person and a flower that happens when we see,

smell, and touch a rose. All the accumulated knowledge

obtained by learned science about how the eye sees

cannot convey the aesthetic experience of a beautiful

sunset. All the brain- facts about how the ear functions do

not and cannot add up to the direct sense encounter of one

person with a piece of beautiful music.

Just as the data known about how the brain works cannot

be translated directly into a diagram of your inner

experience, the experience of your own mind cannot be

translated directly into the data we know about the factual

brain. For instance, we do not experience the stimulation

of receptors in our retina or the transmissions of neural

impulses along our optic nerve or the firing of neurons in

our striate cortex, we experience a perceptual image. Our

lived experience with its thoughts and feelings, symbols

and meanings, purposes and intents (i.e., our mind) does

not “look” like a neuron or like a big, crumpled gray and

white mellon (i.e., our brain). Mind and brain don‟t look

or feel the same at all.

The only way we can see our outer brain as an object is to

cut open our skull, get a mirror, and view it mediated by

our outer senses – the eyes of flesh. The brain may be

“inside” your skull, but we are still dealing with another

level of “outsideness.” Using our inner senses, the mind‟s

eye, we experience our private thoughts and feelings far

more directly, immediately, intimately. The greater

“withinness” of mind is not to be found any place inside

its brain. The closest point to this withinness is our own

consciousness.

One might say that the brain is what consciousness looks

like from the outside (its surface structure). The mind is

what consciousness looks like from the inside (its deep

structure). The physical brain is the nonphysical mind in

electro-chemical clothing; they are not the same thing.

Consider the following phenomenon. British neurologist

John Lobor has studied children with hydrocephalus

(water on the brain) – a condition in which an abnormal

build-up of cerebrospinal fluid occurs in the brain. As a

result of this condition, children no longer possess an

entire cerebral cortex (i.e., the portion of the brain

believed to be the seat of consciousness). The skull may

be lined with only a thin layer of cells a millimeter or so

thick with the rest of the cranium being filled with

cerebrospinal fluid. Dr. Lorbor has found that, despite the

absence of “virtually no brain,” the mental development

of the children appears normal (Lewin, 1980). Perhaps

our mind and consciousness and everything that we have

been taught to identify as our “Self” is not as much a

result of brain state activity as we think.


80

According to Michael Talbot, in his 1986 book, Beyond

the Quantum: How the Secrets of the New Physics Are

Bridging the Chasm Between Science and Faith:

Lobor has since gone on to discover numerous

other individuals who function normally but

possess no brain. For example, in an article

published in Science in 1980, science writer

Roger Lewin reported that at the Children‟s

Hospital in Sheffield, Lobor has done more than

600 such scans on patients with hydrocephalus.

In the study, he divided the patients into four

groups: those with nearly normal brains, those

with cerebrospinal fluid filling 50 to 70 percent

of the cranium; those in which it fills 70 to 90

percent; and the most severe group, those in

which cerebrospinal fluid fills 95 percent of the

cranium. In the last group, which comprised just

less than 10 percent of the study, half of the

individuals were severely mentally disabled, but

the remaining half possessed IQ‟s greater than

100 (pp. 87-88).

What could possibly explain such a phenomenon? There

are other reported cases where surgeons have removed the

entire left hemisphere of persons suffering from epilepsy,

a procedure called “brain hemispherectomy,” with no

dramatic changes resulting in personality, language, or

memory (Shulins, 1987). This remarkable phenomenon is

usually interpreted as evidence of the brain‟s plasticity

and the ability to shift functions from one side of the brain

to the other, especially in children below the age of 6. Is

this what happened in Lorbor‟s remarkable patients with

hydrocephalus? Did the lower brain structures (e.g.,

limbic system or brain stem) take over the functions of the

deteriorated higher cortical areas in those most severe

hydrocephalic patients with IQs over 100?

The hypothesis of brain plasticity does not take us far in

explaining the mind-boggling case reported by Michael

Sabom, M.D. in his 1998 book, Light and Death: One

Doctor’s Fascinating Account of Near-Death

Experiences. Pam Reynolds was a 35-year old woman in

Atlanta, Georgia who had an aneurysm in the wall of a

large artery at the base of her brain that had swollen to

such a large size that its safe removal by standard

neurosurgical techniques was impossible. The only way

the aneurysm might be successfully removed without

rupturing was by a surgical procedure known as

hypothermic cardiac arrest that “would require that her

body temperature be lowered to 60 degrees, her heartbeat

and breathing stopped, her brain waves flattened, and the

blood drained out of her head” (Sabom (1998, p. 37). All

body and chilled before being returned to her body

vital signs and brain functions were continuously

monitored during the one hour and 25 minute craniotomy

procedure. The warm blood that was removed from her

lowering the core body temperature to 60 degrees

Fahrenheit. Cardiac arrest was induced with massive

doses of potassium chloride. Brain stem function totally

shut down. It was at this point that “the head of the

operating table was tiled up, the cardiopulmonary bypass

machine was turned off, and the blood drained from

Pam‟s body like oil from a car….With the blood drained

from her body, the aneurysm sac collapsed like a deflated

balloon…and [was] excised. The cardiopulmonary bypass

machine was then turned back on and warm blood began

to be reinfused into Pam‟s empty body ” (Sabom, 1998, p.

43). With additional warming and refusion of blood,

brain wave activity and normal cardiac rhythm

recommenced.

What is remarkable about Pam‟s experience was not that

she survived such a daring surgical procedure, but that

during the entire time, although she was totally

unconscious and “her electroencephalogram was silent,

her brain-stem activity was absent, and no blood flowed

through her brain” (Sabom, 1998, p. 49), she reported

having an out-of-body experience and an awareness of

events what were occurring in the operating room! As

Pam‟s attending surgeon, Dr. Robert Spetzler, Director of

Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona, said:

“If you would examine that patient from a clinical

perspective during that hour, that patient by all definition

would be dead. At this point there was no brain activity,

no blood going to the brain. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing”

(Sabom, 1998, p. 5). As Neal Grossman (2002) remarked

about the case:

A brain in this state cannot create any kind of

experience. Yet the patient reported a profound

NDE (near death experience). Those materialists

who believe that consciousness is secreted by the

brain, or that the brain is necessary for conscious

experience to exist, cannot possibly explain, in

their own terms, cases such as this. An impartial

observer would have to conclude that not all

experience is produced by the brain, and that

therefore the falsity of materialism has been

empirically demonstrated (Grossman, 2002, p.

31).


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Two Analogies

Two analogies might make the hypothesized relationship

between the physical brain (surface structure) and the

nonphysical mind (deep structure) clearer.

Thought-word analogy. The first analogy draws its

inspiration from Noam Chomsky (1965), influential

theorist in modern linguistics and developer of

transformational grammar, and Jane Roberts (1972, pp.

71-74), noted mystic and writer.

Chomsky devised a linguistic model that proposes that

every sentence of every natural language has two distinct

representations. The surface structure is represented by

the physical words that are actually spoken or written.

The deep structure is the nonphysical representation of the

meaning of the words. The ways in which surface

structure appearances can differ in their associated deep

structure meanings (e.g., “Nothing is better than

something”) is the research domains of transformational

grammarians. In this analogy, the physical brain is like

the words (surface structure) that are used to tell of an

experience (deep structure) of the mind.

On the one hand, we feel we express our experience

directly through our words, aware of all the muscular

actions and bodily reactions that accompany our speech;

we hear the words and recognize their appropriateness as

a more or less approximate expression of our thoughts

and feelings. Our physical subjective experience is so

involved with word thinking, it is almost impossible for

us to conceive of an experience that is not thought-word

oriented or structured through verbal patterns. In this

analogy, mind (thought) is structured and expressed by

the brain (word) just as thought is structured and

expressed by the words used to convey it.

On the other hand, the words used to tell of an experience

obviously are not the experience that they attempt to

describe. The thoughts or feelings and the words are not

the same thing. The words are not your thoughts or

feelings, and so there must be gap between your thought

and your expression of it. The actual words convey or

transmit information, but the information and the words

that are used to communicate it are two different things.

The same relationship between thought and word applies

as you read the words on this page. The words upon the

page have the physical reality only of black marks on

white paper. The letters that compose the words are

symbols that have agreed upon meanings connected with

them. If you do not know English, you would not be able

to decipher the symbols and the words would be

meaningless to you. The information that is being

transmitted therefore is not an attribute of the letters or the

words themselves. The symbols – the letters – are not the

information – which they attempt to convey.

The information is not contained in the written letters any

more than the thought or feeling is contained in the

spoken phonemes. The printed (or spoken) word does not

contain information – it transmits information. The page

is simply a carrier of information; the information it

conveys is invisible. Where is the information that is

being transmitted, then, if it is not upon the page? The

words transmit information which resides within the self.

In an analogous fashion, mind expresses itself directly

through the brain, and is structured through the brain‟s

actions and reactions. The brain is used to express the

mind, but the brain is not the mind that it conveys. Like

mental images, though they occur within the physical

skull, the images are not in themselves physical. The

images, like words and brain, are only the physical

symbols of inner knowledge; they are not the knowledge

but the symbols of them.

Television set/program analogy. The second analogy is

inspired by the works of Stanislav Grof, co-founder with

Abraham Maslow of the field of transpersonal psychology

and pioneer researcher of psychedelic states of

consciousness, and biologist Rupert Sheldrake, former

director of studies in biochemistry and cell biology at

Cambridge University, and originator of the controversial

“hypothesis of formative causation” based on

investigations of plant development and the processes of

ageing and regeneration.

In this analogy, the brain is likened to a television (TV)

set and the mind to its television programming. A mass

of clinical and experimental data from neurology and

psychiatry demonstrate that traumas, tumors, and

infections in specific areas of the physical brain can result

in distinct and characteristic changes in the functioning of

mind and body (e.g., seizures, hallucinations, amnesia,

aphasia). These observations are usually interpreted as

scientific proof that brain is mind, that mind is nothing

more than an epiphenomenal by-product generated by


82

brain processes, or that the self is simply the accidental

personification of the body‟s biological mechanism (see

for example, Crick, 1994; Damasio, 1994; LeDoux,

2003). Transpersonal psychologist, Stanislav Grof, in his

1985 book, Beyond the Brain: Birth, Death and

Transcendence in Psychotherapy, offers an alternative

interpretation of the facts by drawing our attention to the

similarity between the effects of brain damage and a

malfunctioning television set.

“The quality of the picture and sound is critically

dependent on proper functioning of all

components, and malfunction or destruction of

some of them will create very specific

distortions. A television mechanic can identify

the malfunctioning component on the basis of

the nature of the distortion and correct the

problem by replacing or repairing the hardware

in question. None of us would see this as a

scientific proof that the program must therefore

be generated in the television set ….Yet this is

precisely the kind of conclusion mechanistic

science has drawn in regard to brain and

consciousness” (Grof, 1985, p. 22).

Transpersonal biologist, Rupert Sheldrake, in his 1990

book, The Rebirth of Nature: The Greening of Science

and God, extends Grof‟s TV analog to address

observations of genetic mutations and explain

neuroscience‟s recurrent failures to discover memory

traces residing in the brain cells and inability to find any

given memory location within the brain itself.

A search inside your TV set for traces of the

programs you watched last week would be

doomed to failure for the same reasons: the set

tunes into TV transmissions, but does not store

them (p. 93) …. [Moreover] damage to some

parts of the circuitry can lead to loss or distortion

of pictures; damage to other parts can make the

set lose the ability to produce sounds; damage to

the tuning circuit can lead to loss of the ability to

receive one or more channels. But this does not

prove that the pictures, sounds and entire

programs are stored inside the damaged

components (p. 94) …. Genetic mutations can

affect this tuning process, and the ability of the

organism to develop … just as changes in

condensers or other components of a TV set can

affect its tuning to particular channels, or affect

the reception of programs – the sounds or

pictures may be distorted, for example. But just

because mutant components can affect the

picture and sounds produced by the TV receiver,

this does not prove that the TV programs are

programmed by the set‟s components and

generated inside the set. No more does the fact

that genetic changes can affect the form and

behavior of organisms prove that their form and

behavior are programmed by the genes (p. 90).

In these terms, consciousness is not in the brain any more

than the TV program is in the TV components or the

thought is in the written letters or in the spoken words.

The brain does not contain consciousness any more than

the TV set contains the TV program it transmits or the

printed line contains the information it conveys.

Consciousness operates through body structures and is

neither contained in, nor created by, nor emergent from

the brain. The brain transmits the mind. The mind it

transmits is invisible. Where is the mind that is being

transmitted, then, if it is not contained within the brain?

The brain transmits the mind which resides within

multidimensional reality. We express ourselves through

our brains just as we express ourselves through our

bodies. Consciousness does not disappear with the death

of the brain. It is simply no longer able to display itself.

Although the TV set is turned off and the program cannot

be displayed, the program still exists in the airwaves.

Likewise, although a damaged brain can no longer display

consciousness, this doesn‟t mean it doesn‟t continue to

exist.

Localization of Memories

Where in the brain are thoughts and memories

stored? There has been ongoing debate within biological

psychology about whether thoughts and memories (called

engrams) and localized and have specific locations

somewhere in the brain cells or are diffused throughout

the cortex, limbic, and brain stem structures.

Memories are localized. Evidence in support of

memories being localized at specific brain sites was

provided by the work of neurosurgeon Wilder Penfield

who is famous for having mapped out the sensory and

motor strip areas of the cerebral cortex by electrically

stimulating portions of the exposed brain of conscious

patients who were undergoing surgery for epilepsy.

Penfield discovered in the 1920‟s that by electrically

stimulating the temporal lobe areas (the region of the

brain behind the temples and above the ears) of the

exposed cerebral cortex (which has no pain receptors and

thus does not feel pain directly as long as the scalp and

skull have been anesthetized) of conscious patients who


83

were undergoing brain surgery for the relief of epileptic

seizures, memories of past episodes from their lives could

be re-experienced and reported (Penfield, 1975). Not

every epileptic patient reported memories when a

particular area of the cortex was stimulated, and results

could not be duplicated in nonepileptic patients, but those

epileptic patients that did report memories reported the

same memory being evoked whenever he touched the

same spot of the temporal lobe was electrically

stimulated.

Memories are diffused. Early evidence in support of

diffusion of memories was provided by the work of

neuropsychologist Karl Lashley who trained rats to run a

maze, surgically removed various portions of their brains,

retested them to see if the rat‟s memory of their maze-

running learning was eradicated, and discovered that no

matter what portions of their brains he cut out, their

memory remained stubbornly intact. “Even after

removing as much as 90 percent of the rat‟s visual cortex

(the part of the brain that receives and interprets what the

eye sees), he found [the rat] could still perform tasks

requiring complex visual skills. Similarly, research

conducted by [Karl] Pribram revealed that as much as 98

percent of a cat‟s optic nerve can be severed without

seriously impairing its ability to perform complex visual

tasks” (Talbot, 1991, pp. 18-19).

If memories are not localized at specific brain sites, then

the only other alternative was that they were somehow

distributed throughout the brain as a whole. Supporting

this conclusion was the clinical observation that patients

who suffered brain damage either through accident,

stroke, viral infection, or surgery rarely suffered the loss

of specific memories. Damage to large sections of the

brain might cause memory to become generally hazy

(e.g., not recognizing all the members of one‟s family or

recall of a novel one has read), but selective memory loss

for, say, half the members of an individual‟s family or

half of the novel they read, rarely if ever occurred.

Supplementary motor area. How are thoughts turned

into action? Neurosurgeon William Penfield identified a

small area on the upper midsurface of the cerebral cortex

just anterior to the motor strip that he called “the

supplementary motor area” or SMA. The SMA has been

shown to become activated moments prior to the

execution of a bodily movement as measured by blood

flow activity in nerve cells. After injecting a radioactive

tracer into a person‟s internal carotid artery, the

radioactive pattern of underlying brain activity is recorded

by 254 Geiger counters arranged in a helmet that the

participant wears while performing a learned repetitive

finger-thumb movement task for 60 seconds.

The repetitive task required a great deal of concentration

to perform. It required the person to touch his or her

thumb to each finger in turn for a 60 second period

following a distinct pattern: 2 touches to the first finger, 1

to the second, 3 to the third, 2 to the fourth; and then

reverses the pattern: 2 touches to fourth finger, 3 to the

third, 1 to the second, and 2 to the first. Both the SMA

and the motor cortex showed large increases in nerve-cell

activity compared to baseline.

The participant is then asked to think of the thumb-finger

movements in the correct sequence without carrying them

out. While there is no increase in neural activity in the

motor cortex, the SMA showed almost as large an

increase in activity as when the movements are being

performed. What these results indicate is that when a

person is only intending to carry out a voluntary act,

these thoughts will activate neural events in the SMA and

nowhere else.

Electroencephalo- graphic (EEG) recordings of electrical

signals taken for the scalps of participants during

performance of this task confirmed this finding and

indicated that the first electrical sign of nerve-cell activity

(called “the readiness potential”) just prior to performance

of the voluntary movement appeared in the scalp region

over the SMA almost a second before movement begins.

The mental activation of the SMA was found to precede

the activity of the motor cortex. The implications of these

experiments is that the mind does affect the brain and do

so at a precise site of the cerebral cortex. Unfortunately,

ever since its discovery, the SMA has been ignored

concerning its role in carrying out bodily movement.


84

Panpsychism

The problems of emergence and interaction that plague

monism and dualism are avoided in an alternative

understanding of the mind-body relationship called

panpsychism or pan-experientialism (Griffin, 1988, 1997;

de Quincey, 2002). Purpose and intent, values and ideals,

fears and desires, plans and goals obviously play a role in

bringing about physical changes in the physical world.

The functioning of the physical body also obviously plays

a part in bringing about psychological changes in

conscious experience. The problem of how to understand

these interactions of mind and body raises a problem in

psychological science only as long as the ideas of purely

insentient matter and a strictly nonphysical mind are

maintained. The failure to understand the role of

consciousness in matter and the physical reality of

thought is “an artificial problem, created solely by the

human decision to define them as totally unlike things”

(Griffin, 1997,p. 107). The premise behind materialist

monism and the modern “disenchantment” of the world –

that elementary units of nature are insentient – is false.

At the root of the mind-body problem is the idea

that “matter” that was originally proposed by

dualists and then taken over by materialists. That

a reconsideration of the nature of matter is

necessary to solve the mind-body problem has

been suggested by Searle….What needs

rethinking, Searle suggests, is the Cartesian

assumption that if something is “physical” it

cannot be “mental,” and if something is “mental”

it cannot also be “physical” (Searle, 1992, pp.

14, 26, 54).

If neurons possessed some elementary form of

awareness, then it would be “easy enough to see how

neurons could generate consciousness” (McGinn, 1991, p.

28)

Beginning with the working hypothesis that at

least some iota of spontaneous experience

characterizes individuals at every level of nature,

we can affirm nondualistic interactionism, in

which all the ontological problems of dualistic

interactionism are avoided: Interaction between

mind and brain is no longer counterintuitive,

because the mind and the brain cells are said to

be qualitatively similar, only greatly different in

degree. There is no absolute discontinuity and

therefore no problem of where to draw the line in

the evolutionary process between sentience and

insentience. There is no problem of emergence,

because conscious experience is said to emerge

not out of insentient matter but out of things with

less sophisticated experience … The experience

and freedom of humans, or of humans and

animals, is not thought to be the great exception;

spontaneous experience is characteristic of every

level of nature (Griffin, 1997, p. 135-136).

Logically, in order to hold that consciousness and the

brain interact, one must distinguish between

consciousness and the brain, because if they were

identical, they could not interact. Interaction requires

dualism. But when the mind and brain are ontologically

different and unalike, then they cannot interact. Therefore,

interaction is impossible.

One way out of this paradox is to assert that

consciousness and brain are not ontologically different

kinds of things – that the mind is as physical as the body

and that the body is as nonphysical as the mind. Mind is a

different kind of matter; matter is a different kind of

mind. Just as there are spectrums of matter, there are

spectrums of consciousness.

Reconciling Mind and Body

The bifurcation of reality into a world of spirit and a

world of flesh by dualists and the limitation of reality into

a world of matter alone can be overcome by extending

sentience (awareness) from human experience, to animals,

and “all way down” to the lowest forms of life – not

limiting it to human experience alone. Reality is not

limited.

Until the ontological gap is crossed between mind and

body, between experiencing self and insentient cell and

atom, the two-fold problem of emergence in monism and

interaction in dualism remains and makes both

perspectives inadequate to the facts of empirical science

and conscious experience. Thought has a physical reality

in addition to its recognized mental aspects; the mind

affects the body and the body affects the mind in return;

and the body has a nonphysical quality in addition to its

acknowledged material aspect.













85

The body is spirit in flesh, its three-dimensional face, the

soul in electro-chemical clothing. The spirit speaks with a


spirit. One thought could not leap from an infinite number

of nerve endings, if matter itself was not initially alive

with consciousness. This point is missed in both monism

and dualism. From the transpersonal viewpoint of mystic

Seth-Jane Roberts:

Nothing exists – neither rock, mineral, plant,

animal, or air – that is not filled with

consciousness of its own kind…Your are

yourselves physically composed of conscious

cells that carry within themselves the realization

of their own identity, that cooperate willingly to

form the corporeal structure that is your physical

body. I am saying, of course, that there is no

such thing as dead matter. There is no object that

was not formed by consciousness, and each

consciousness, regardless of its degree, rejoices

in sensation and creativity. You cannot

understand what you are unless you understand

such matters (Roberts, 1972, p. 12)

In making such a statement, transpersonal psychologists

are not personifying matter or the body‟s cells, for

consciousness and the desire for sensation,

communication, motion, and creativity does not belong to

human beings, or even animals, alone. In affirming that

all energy contains consciousness, transpersonal

psychologists are not assigning human traits to energy but

are simply acknowledging that our human traits are the

result of energy‟s characteristics. And that if

consciousness creates form, and not the other way around,

then thoughts would exist before the brain and after it.

The brain would be the physical counterpart of the mind,

the means by which the functions of awareness, attention,

intention, purpose, planfulness, memory, creativity, and

intellect are connected with the physical body. Through

the filtering and focusing characteristics and effects of the

physical brain, events that are basically of nonphysical

origin and essentially independent of the physical brain

become physically valid (Bergson, 1911).

And if thoughts exist before and after the brain, then so

would the self who has them. Death would not be an end,

but a transformation of consciousness and a means to its

continuation, leading toward a spiritual rebirth and

regeneration, and an opportunity for other kinds of

experience and development (Roberts, 1972).

What is the main characteristic of “body consciousness”?

According to Seth-Jane Roberts (1997):

“The main characteristic of body consciousness is

its spontaneity. This allows it to work at an

incredibly swift rate that could not be handled by

the topmost conscious portions of the mind. Its

operation is due to an almost instantaneous kind

of consciousness, in which what is known is

known, with no distance between, say, the

knower and the known. The act of seeing, and all

of the body‟s sense, are dependent upon this

inner spontaneity” (Roberts, 1997, p. 16).

Panpsychism Panpsychism an be regarded as a form of

parallelism. Most parallelists would assert that brain

processes have an “inner nature.” Some parallelists would

go on to assert that all things in the universe (atoms,

molecules, plants and animals) have an additional inner

nature in addition to their outer, physical one. Nothing

that physical exists is a purely material structure. All have

an aspect which in varying degrees resembles our mental

states. “Even in the very lowest organisms, even in the

amoeba which swims in our blood, whether organic or

inorganic… there is something or other, inconceivably

simple to us, which is of the same nature with out own

consciousness, although not of the same complexity” (W.

K. Clifford, quoted in Edwards & Paps, 1965, p. 183).

Just as thoughts and feelings constitute the inner nature of

our bodies, and our bodies are composed of cells,

molecules, and atoms, so do rudimentary thoughts and

feelings constitute the inner nature of those more

elementary things. From the transpersonal perspective of

Seth-Jane Roberts, the consciousness that exists within

animals, for instance, is as valid and eternal as our own.

“You are not separated from the animals and the rest of

existence by virtue of possessing an eternal inner

consciousness. Such a consciousness is present within all

living beings, and in all forms” (Roberts, 1972, p. 432).

This is not to say that the consciousness that is present in

all existent things is the same as our own. It is not. If

things do not reflect upon the nature of their own

identities as human do, it is because they intuitively

comprehend that nature in a way that human self-

consciousness does not, and hence have no need to. There

are as many luxuriant and diverse focuses of

consciousness as there are physical objects and forms of

life. Various gestalts of consciousness (electrons and

protons into molecule-gestalts, molecules into cell-

gestalts, cells into organ-gestalts, organs in body-gestalts,

and so forth result in different kinds of “interior” nature,


86

different qualities of conscious experience, and different

ways of perceiving reality. The varieties of consciousness

are so different from our own that we can only

approximately grasp the meaning inherent in some of

them

“Each being experiences life as if it were at life‟s

center. This applies to a spider in a closet as well

as to any man or woman. This principle applies

to each atom as well. Each manifestation of

consciousness comes into being feeling secure at

life‟s center – experiencing life through itself,

aware of life through its own nature. It comes

into being with an inner impetus toward value

fulfillment … It is given the impetus toward

growth and action, and filled with the desire to

impress its world” (Roberts, 1981a, p. 256).

Thoughts have a reality that we do not know; they have a

reality that we do not perceive.

Some pan-psychists are materialists in that mind cannot

exist independent of the physical body. Others are dualists

in asserting that consciousness exists basically

independent of physical processes.

Physicist Albert Einstein once exclaimed: “The mystery

of the world is its comprehensibility.” The world is

comprehensible to the human intellect because the world

and the human intellect are made of the same “stuff.”

That stuff is consciousness. The human intellect emerged

out of what the world is. Comprehensibility is a part of

energy‟s characteristics. Only when the two are viewed as

separate, drastically different things, does the gap

between the world and human intellect seem unbridgeable

and its crossing “mysterious.”

Body and mind are one, as the phenomena of human

transformative capacity show; there is ultimately no

division between the physical body and the nonphysical

mind. Body and world are one, as the body illusions

show; there is ultimately no division between the physical

world and our outer physical body. Therefore mind and

world are one, and reality is participatory and deeply

connective (synchronicity and nonlocal events happens);

there is ultimately no division between the physical world

and our inner psychological processes.

The biological evidence of human transformative

capacity, a recognition of the subtle illusions that

characterize our naïve perception of our physical body

and its cells, the discoveries of communal activity and

sensitivity of the parts in a cell or of cells, and the

biochemical links between mind and body revealed by

psychoneuroimmunology all represent a serious challenge

to the current Newtonian-Cartesian paradigm of Western

psychological science that characterize the body as solid,

stable, individual, mechanical, and mindless. An

alternative paradigm that can revolutionize our

understanding of the nature of the physical body can be

found in the long lineage of scholarly thought variously

called “radical naturalism,” “panpsychism,”

“panentheism,” or “panexperientialism.”

The philosophy of ontological panpsychism emphasizes

both the active nature of consciousness in that mind is the

ultimate primordial substance (i.e., consciousness is the

agent that initiates and directs the transformation of

energy into form and of form into energy) and the

receptive nature of consciousness in that consciousness is

a quality or aspect intrinsic to matter (i.e., one thought

could not leap from an infinite number of nerve endings,

if matter itself was not initially alive with consciousness).

Ontological panpsychism has a long and venerable

tradition in the history of philosophy and science

(Edwards, 1967; deQuincy, 2002, chap. 6). Proponents of

the mind-in-matter philosophy can be found in the

following areas:

Pre-Indo-Eurpoean Neolithic and Paleolithic

cultures,

The cult of Orpheus and pre-Socratic

philosophers (Thales Anaximander,

Anaximenes, Pythagorous, Anaxagoras)

Greek philosophy (Empedocles, Plato, Aristotle,

Zeno the Stoic) and Neoplatonists (Plotinus,

Paraclesus, Giordan Bruno),

Esoteric Christianity and the Hermetic traditions

(John Scotus, Meister Eckhart)

Renaissance philosophy (Leibniz, Spinoza, von

Schelling, Schopenhauer)

Romantic thought (Goethe, Coleridge).

Modern psychology (Wundt, Fechner, James and

Jung)

Process philosophy (Whitehead, Bergson,

Royce, and Griffin)

Quantum physics (Heisenberg, Bohm, Wigner)


87

According to the philosophy of ontological panpsychism:

“In basic terms, our sense perception, physically

speaking, is a result of behavior on the part of

organs that are themselves composed of atoms

and molecules with their own consciousnesses,

organs that have a reality outside of their

relationship with us, and that have their own

states of sensation and cognition that work for

us, allowing ego-directed consciousness to

perceive physical reality” (Roberts, 1981b, p.

38).

Ontological panpsychism asserts that sentience goes “all

the way down” (deQuincey, 2002) and reveals the

transpersonal nature of the physical body. Ontological

panpsychism challenges contemporary mainstream

psychology‟s understanding about the biological

foundations of behavior. It proposes an alternative

framework for understanding the relationship between the

mind (consciousness) and the body (brain).

Understanding the true transpersonal nature of the

physical body will require a thorough revisioning of the

mind-body problem that has plagued philosophy and

psychological science since Descartes initial formulation

of it in the 17th century. Advances in modern physical

theory, molecular biology, and psychological science

since Descartes‟ time offers us a possible answer to the

mind-body problem in the present if we are only open to

revising the way the question has been asked in the past.


88

The Quantum Body

Transpersonal psychology offers an alternative point of

view to understanding the biological foundations of

experience and behavior. This viewpoint is non-

Newtonian and incorporates the findings of modern

physical theory into its understanding of the physical

nature of the body and brain. While it acknowledges the

findings of Newtonian-based psychology, it does not

regard them as the final word about the physical basis of

thought, emotion, and memory. It assumes that

“Everything that is apparent three-dimensionally has an

inside source, out of which it appearance springs”

(Roberts, 1979, p. 340). What you see of the neuron and

the body‟s cells, in other words, is not all there is to the

neuron or the cell. There is much more to the matter of

matter than meets the eye of flesh.

When the brain‟s neurons and body‟s cells are viewed in

light of this assumption, one recognizes that their

perceivable shape and measurable physical mass is simply

a kind of camouflage or apparent form that informs their

outward physical appearance – their three-dimensional

face, so to speak. Beneath the cell’s physical appearance

is the energy that composes it. That energy possesses

none of the characteristics that we perceive the cell in its

physical appearance to have – such as color, solidity,

mass, shape, movement, causality, temporality, and so

forth.

Once we acknowledge that beneath the neuron‟s physical

appearance is the energy that composes it., we understand

that our perception of the physical body (and brain) as a

solid, stable, individual, mechanical, and mindless thing

is not a completely accurate way of representing the facts

about the physical nature of our being. Modern physical

theory consistently shows that the physical entities that

compose our body – molecules, atoms, electrons,

electromagnetic waves, and so forth – do not inherently

possess the sensory qualities of solidity, hardness, color,

duration, indivisibility which we experience our body to

have (Bohm, 1983/1980; Friedman, 1997; Goswami,

1995; Mindell, 2000;Talbot, 1991; Wolf, 1999; Zohar,

1990). Let us examine these “body illusions” (Larry

Dossey‟s phrase) to discover why a psychology that is

based upon a Newtonian way of looking at its biological

foundations is inadequate for understanding the

transpersonal nature of the physical body (Dossey, 1982,

pp. 72-81; 1991, pp. 105-137). There is always more

going on than ordinary sense data show. Physically we are

more than we know.

The Solid Body Examine for a moment your experience

of your own body. You experience your body as solid just

as you perceive all other physical matter in your

environment. Your body, however, is composed of the

same “stuff” as all other matter in the universe: atoms.

The atoms within your body spin in a cloud of constant

commotion and activity. The atoms themselves are

composed almost totally of thin air with most of their

mass concentrated in the nucleus, with the electrons

separated from the nucleus by a vast expanse of empty

space. “To get an idea of this immensity, imagine an

orange in the center of the Astrodome. This gives a

relative picture of the „stuff‟ of the body; almost all of it is

nothing” (Dossey, 1991, p. 107).

The body that we perceive as being so solid and the very

senses that make such a deduction are the result of the

behavior of swiftly moving particles orbiting each other in

which great exchanges of energy continually occur –

atoms and molecules literally coming together to form the

organs, filling a pattern of flesh (Dossey, 1982).

Indeed, the more matter itself is explored, the more

apparent it becomes that within it energy takes certain

forms – organs, cells, molecules, atoms, electrons,

electromagnetism, light, sound – each less physical than

the last, each combining into mysterious patterns to form

the matter of the body (Davidson, 1988). “The physical

body exists as an electrical body that is not material, that

has a peculiar mass but no weight and whose

characteristics are apparent in terms of varying intensities

and concentrations of electrical force” (Roberts, 1998, p.

219; see also, Becker & Selden, 1985).


89

The Stable Body. You experience your body as a

constant, stable physical object among others that changes

slowly and gradually over the years. The body, however,

is in a state of constant change. There is an ongoing

physical give-and-take among organs of the body and

between the body and the environment. “Making

decisions far too fast for you to follow, [the body adjusts]

hormonal balances, maintaining balances between all of

its systems, not only in relationship to itself – the body –

but to an environment that is also in constant change”

(Roberts, 1981b, p. 48). The process is called

“homeostasis” and it maintains and regulates the normal

level of functioning in body temperature, heart rate, and

blood pressure. When stress disturbs homeostasis,

processes are instantaneously and automatically set in

motion to correct the disequilibrium. with no conscious

thought from you at all. If you are aware you can

perceive multitudinous actions and reactions occurring

within your own body as you walk across the floor, with

intricate calculations instantly made, activating the inner

mechanisms to help you achieve your goal.

Our eyes and ears certainly seem to be permanent

appendages, even while the molecules and atoms and

cells that compose those sense organs continually change

with us none the wiser. The physical substance of your

body, for instance, is made up of completely different

atoms and molecules than it was composed of five years

ago. “Each year, 98 percent of the 1028

atoms in the body

are replaced; at the end of five years all are renewed,

down to the very last one” (Dossey, 1991, p. 107).

The flesh that we perceive as being so stable physically

breaks apart on numerous occasions, its stuff literally

falling off into the earth. Biologist Lyall Watson in his

1979 book Lifetide: The Biology of the Unconscious

reminds us:

“Our bodies are by no means static. A different

person looks back at you each morning from the

mirror. We produce a whole new skin surface

once a week, the entire lining of the mouth is

washed away and digested with every meal, each

blink of an eye flushes hundreds of cells down

the tear ducts. All in all we lose about a soup

plate full of cells every day…Fortunately,…bone

marrow and generative tissue endlessly pump

new cells into the system. There are millions

made every day (Watson, 1979, p. 100)

The cells within your body die constantly to be replaced

by other cells numerous times over the course of years.

Consider your senses of taste and smell.

“Each taste cell has a life span of only a few

days; thus the composition of the taste bud

is always changing…The taste cells in the

taste bud seem to be a specialized variation

of skin cells. This probably explains their

short life span because all skin cells are

periodically replaced… Each primary

olfactory neuron, located in a relatively

small area in the upper nasal passages and

responsible for your sense of smell. The

receptive cells of the olfactory system,

called primary olfactory neurons, are

located in a relatively small area in the

upper nasal passages…Remarkably, each

primary olfactory neuron functions for

only about 4 to 8 weeks before

deteriorating; new primary olfactory

neurons are continually being produced

from the basal cells (p. 220)” (Coren,

Ward, Enns, 1999, pp. 212, 220).

The body‟s stability is dependent upon this birth and

death of its cells. The body that you have now is not

the one that you had 10 years ago; its physical

composition has died completely many time since

your birth, but, again, your consciousness bridges

that gaps” (Roberts, 1979, p. 333). A cell does not

fear its own death. The body dies many times,

though we do not perceive it, our consciousness

bridging the gap of those minute “deaths” that we

do not recognize as such.

The Individual Body. You experience yourself as

basically enclosed inside your body, separated from

other physical objects by your skin, unaware of the

constant interchanges that occur between the

structure or form we call “the body” and the

seemingly empty space outside it – basic chemical

interactions without which life as we know it would

be impossible.

Through the skin, for instance, which is itself alive

and breathes, we receive nutrients from the air and

sunlight without which we could not exist or

survive. The body assimilates and uses properties

that would otherwise be called alien ones, and

immunizes itself through such methods. Emotions

trigger endocrine glands to release adrenalin into the

bloodstream that create pheromones that are

released through the skin and liberated into the air

to affect the atmosphere as shown, for example, by

the ability of police dogs to readily distinguish one

person from another by the odors released through

the soles of the feet.


90

Physically, portions of ourselves leave our body

constantly and intermix with elements of the environment.

We eat portions of the world in the form of animal,

vegetable, and mineral and make them a part of ourselves,

to be used by our body and then returned to the earth to be

used again. The chemicals that are our body, and the

atoms and molecules and the breath that leaves our lungs

becomes a part of the atmosphere of the room, and

eventually the building, the town or city, the country, and

the world. “The components of the cells that now

compose your own eyes have combined and separated

many times to form other portions of the natural

environment.” There is a constant intermixing, so that the

molecular components of cells of you and I may become a

part of the cells of a plant or an animal. and vice versa.

Physically, the self is composed of all these alien

unselflike elements. “Bodies are incessantly mixing with

other bodies through the endless shuttle of atoms

….These molecules actually become the stuff of the

body” (Dossey, 1991, p. 108). The molecular

components of cells that now compose your body have

combined and discombined many times to form other

portions of the natural environment. “This inner and yet

physical transmigration [of cellular

components]…represents a natural method of

communication, uniting all species and all physical life”

(Roberts, 1979, 318).

In basic terms, then, the body that we perceive as being so

individual and separated from everything that is not

ourselves also connects us with it, extending the self out

into the environment. Each breath you exhale flows out

from what you are, passing into the world that seems to be

not you. Each breath you inhale “has millions of

molecules breathed recently by each and every one of the

five billion people on earth ...and any living thing that

breathes – cows, horses, snakes, birds, bees, and so forth”

(Dossey, 1991, p. 108).

The space just outside our body is composed of the same

elements as our skin in different proportions. Except for a

difference of molecular organization and density, your

body is composed of the same physical stuff (electrons,

protons, and neutrons appropriately arranged) as a rock, a

star, a frog, or a peach. “The physical world rises up

before your eyes, while your eyes are a part of the

physical world it perceives” (Roberts, 1981b, p. 39).

The Mechanical Body. It may seem to you that your

body is nothing more than a complex machine with

interchangeable parts that runs itself pretty much on its

own and that its workings can be explained in mechanical

terms. This mechanical image of the body is not only

prevalent in the physical sciences and medicine, but

permeated popular culture, as the perennially popular

book Frankenstein illustrates. The machine metaphor has

been a prevalent model for how the body operates ever

since the mechanical clock became the 17th century ideal

metaphor for the universe. Not only was the universe a

clockwork machine, but so was the body. Rene

Descartes, the 17th century French mathematician whose

philosophical writings marked the beginnings of modern

Western psychology, declared that the idea that this idea

that the body is nothing more than a mindless machine

would not

“appear at all strange to those who are acquainted

with the different automata, or moving machines,

fabricated by human industry… such persons

will look upon this body as a machine made by

the hands of God, which is incomparably better

arranged and adequate to movements more

admirable than in any machine of human

invention” (quoted in Schultz & Schultz, 2000,

p. 29)

“Thus, clocks and automata paved the way for the idea

that human functioning and behavior were governed by

mechanical laws, and that the experimental and

quantitative methods so successful in uncovering the

secrets of the physical universe could be applied to human

nature” (Schultz & Schultz, 2000, p. 29).

Biologists use a variety of machine metaphors to explain

the physiological functioning of the body: the heart is

likened to a pump, the lungs to bellows, circulation to an

hydraulic system, and limbs to pulley and levers. The

construction of artificial hearts, lungs, and limbs has

followed these metaphors in both design and function.

The physician becomes the biological mechanic who

knows your body better than you do. Patients come to

look upon their own bodily processes as if they somehow

stood apart from them, effectively separating themselves

from their own bodies, loosing any sense of identification

with it or any sense of control over their health or illness.

Psychologists uses words like “sodium-potassium pump”

to describe the electron-charge exchange that occurs

during neural transmission and liken human cognitive

processes to a modern computer. As Marvin Minsky, an

expert on artificial intelligence at MIT crudely put it,

“What is the brain but a computer made of meat?”


91

Yet the fact of the matter is that the body, your body, is a

living, breathing, growing organism that is responsive to

your every thought. Ideally speaking, it has a great natural

healing ability to rid itself of any diseases, the capacity to

keep itself in excellent health, and maintain its stability

into advanced old age. These and many other of the

body‟s abilities are impossible for a machine. Diseased

portions are replaced by new tissue as when people rid

themselves of cancer through “spontaneous remission” or

“placebo effects” (O‟Regan & Hirshberg, 1993). What

machine do you know can do that? As physician Larry

Dosey in his 1991 book Meaning and Medicine: A

Doctor’s Tales of Breakthrough and Healing observed:

When they “get sick,” machines don‟t

experience “miracles,” “exceptional cures,” or

“spontaneous remissions” … But the possible

always exists that we will not behave like

machines when we are sick. This leaves the door

open for the occurrence of extraordinary events

in any human illness – the unexpected cure, the

drug that wasn‟t supposed to work but did, or the

illness that “just went away. …Never has a flat

tire or a defunct TV set repaired itself…..”

(Dossey, 1991, pp. 122-123).

The deeper that psychological science probes the reality

of the human psyche, the more clearly it will appear that

the body is not like a machine at all. Our bodies are better

considered to be organisms rather than machines.

Organisms are alive, machines are not. What implications

does a non-mechanical view of the body have for

therapeutic healing?

“Being open to nonmechanical images of the

body does mean that we have more therapeutic

options to choose from. …Healing, as a result,

can become less remote, cold, and mechanistic –

and more effective, humane, and fulfilling for

both patient and therapist” (Dossey, 1991, p.

137).

The Mindless Body. When you examine your

experience of your own thoughts it may seem to you that

ideas have little to do with the living flesh. The body,

after all, seems physical and ideas do not. Mind and

matter appear divided with the body seeming to function

completely independent of the mind.

With reality divided into a world of mindful concepts

(mind or spirit) and a world of mindless flesh (body or

matter), it is difficult to see how any valid interactions

between mental or emotional states and physical ones can

occur. Yet the fact of the matter is, of course, that they

do. How is this possible?

This is the traditional mind-body problem first formulated

by the French mathematician and philosopher Rene

Descartes (1596-1650) who denied any sentience to

matter and any matter to sentience, insisting that

matterless mind (res ntense) and mindless matter (res

extensa) were strictly separate in substance and nature.

For over 400 years, psychological science has labored

under the Cartesian assumption that all matter, including

the body, contains not the smallest smidgeon of sentience

(i.e., the capacity for awareness and experience). It is

somewhat ironic to imagine that such a vital

consciousness and physical body as our own could even

suppose itself to be the end product of inert physical, and

chemical elements that are themselves lifeless, but that

somehow randomly managed to combine in such a way

that our species attained logic and imagination, thought

and language, learning and memory, technologies and

civilizations.

The mindful nature of cells. Are the cells that compose

our body truly “mindless”? Cells eat and grow, divide and

multiply, collaborate with each other and accommodate to

changes in physical environments, exchange material with

each other and excrete waste material. Machines we build

are not capable of such feats. We can even say that cells

recognize one another and have a rudimentary memory of

past experience.

The new cloning technology that has developed over the

recent years has shown that under special laboratory

conditions, we can get cells from different species to fuse

with one another. We can insert carrot genes into mice,

and mouse genes into human cells. Chimeras such as the

“geep” have been formed by fusing sheep and goat cells

together to form creatures with characteristics of both

species. Few creatures are born alive, and those that do

live short lives plagues by various physical disorders.

Outside the laboratory, however, cell fusion does not

occur. Millions of bateria, protozoans, algae, and fungi

can co-exist in an ounce of rich soil and engage in all

sorts of interactions without fusing with each other.

Biologist Lyall Watson points out one implication of this

fact:

The existence of this complex ecology among a

wide variety of simple unicellular organisms

belonging to a number of species suggests that

the cells must have some way of deciding just

what constitutes a species. They must have some

kind of recognition system which makes it

possible to distinguish one from another, self

from others, me from not-me. There must be,

even among single cells, a rudiment of identity

(Watson, 1979, p. 91)


92

This sort of recognition process and sense of rudimentary

identity can provide a psychological interpretation of how

certain features of our immune system operate. Antibody

formation following disease and organ rejection following

transplant operations

“clearly involves specific recognition by the

chemicals or white blood cells concerned,

because next time a similar invasion takes place

the antibodies present in the blood remember it

and are ready to deal with the intruder in a rapid

and summary fashion” (Watson, 1979, p. 91).

Biologist Lyall Watson (1979) tells us that a similar kind

of self-recognition occurs among simple organisms such

as sea coral and gorgons that live in individual colonies.

“If such growing a colony is divided into two

parts, these will readily unite if given the chance.

There is clear community identity, but this

doesn‟t extend to other colonies, even those of

the same species… This means that even at the

cellular level there are ways in which contact,

communication, and recognition can take place”

(Watson, 1979, p. 92).

Even in bacteria and amoeba (usually considered to be

solitary and independent unicellular organisms), social

characteristics have been observed to occur as when soil

bacteria such as Chondromyces aurantiacus and amoeba

such as Dictyostelium discoideum (slime mold) gather

together, perform like a multicellular organism, and act

toward a common goal.

“A group of identical and isolated cells succeed

in getting together, decide on a course of action,

undergo differentiation in a well-orchestrated

division of labor and dedicate their joint effort in

an extraordinary altruistic way to the promotion

of survival in a chosen few of their number”

(Watson, 1979, p. 95).

This is not the behavior of mindless machines. Biologist

Lyall Watson (1979) notes that the very same chemical

(cyclic adenosine monophosphate or “CAMP” for short)

that bacteria and slime-mold amoeba produce to set the

chain of social reactions going is

“the same chemical [that] acts as an intracellular

messenger in all organisms, even man. It

mediates between hormones arriving at the cell

wall and enzymes that lie inside the cell. This

means that many of our most complex activities,

such as the signals which hold the community of

strangers in our cells together, working to a

common end, originate in the same ancestral

reaction” (Watson, 1979, p. 95).

The social characteristics of cells indicates clearly that the

desire for communication, contact, and motion, and the

psychic capabilities of awareness, recognition, and

memory do not belong to humans , or even to animals,

alone. Cells are pragmatically practical; they naturally

have a desire to communicate, move, and unite, implying

a social nature to our body‟s cells. Through this biological

communication, the body is made aware of its internal

and external physical environment. A transpersonal

perspective would argue that the principle of mind-body

unity implies that the thoughts, feelings, intents, and

images that form a part of the inner environment of the

body is also communicated at cellular levels as well

(Roberts, 1981b). The inner environment is certainly as

important as the outer environment for the species‟

survival and well-being and, however, private, forms a

part of the inner environmental of communication.

Consciousness circulates throughout the body, so to

speak, and we can affect the health and well-being of our

body through our conscious beliefs. A seeming division

occurs where a portion of our conscious mind is

connected with the physical brain and where a portion of

our conscious mind is free of that connection and involves

the involuntary nervous system. We are talking about so-

called non-conscious processes here. As much as 99% of

cognitive activity may be nonconscious (Kilhstrom,

1984). We have an “unconscious mind” that may

understand and respond to meaning, form emotional

responses, and guide most actions, largely independent of

conscious awareness.

Fortunately, the conscious mind does not have to regulate

bodily processes. Can you imagine how much work it

would be to keep conscious track of all the muscles,

nerves, organs, cells, molecules, and atoms while

manipulating the body in space and time? Our conscious

mind does not contain the information on how to grow a

cell or how we grew from a fetus to an adult, yet we do it

rather well without having any conscious idea how it is

done. Can you imagine if we had to consciously grow

ourselves from a one-cell organism to a multi-cellular

embryo? We would be asking ourselves all the time: “Am


93

I doing it right?” We don‟t have to consciously keep

track of our pumping heart. Yet all of this proceeds

intelligently, purposefully, spontaneously. Our visceral

organs act without our conscious control and usually

without our knowledge. Detailed knowledge of

physiology does not help an invalid get out of his

wheelchair nor helps a sprinter run faster. It is not this

kind of knowledge that tells us how our body can be

affected by thought.

As Michael Talbot notes in his 1991 book, The

Holographic Universe,

“We have two realities: one in which our bodies

appear to be concrete and possess a precise

location in space and time; and one in which our

very being appears to exist as a shimmering

cloud of energy whose ultimate location in space

is somewhat ambiguous” (p. 191).

Life Energies

The electromagnetic reality of mind and body. The

electrical reality of thought has long been recognized by

mainstream psychology (e.g., resting potential, or

membrane potential; nerve impulses, or action potentials;

local potentials, or graded potentials). “Electrical signals

are the vocabulary of the nervous system” (Rosenweig,

Leiman, & Breedlove, 1999, p. 56). Psychologists

routinely use

Electroencephalograms (EEG)

Electrical activity mapping (BEAM),

Event-related potentials (ERPs) recordings of

gross electrical activity of the human brain.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

uses radio waves and rapidly oscillating

magnetic-field gradients to detect structural

details of the living brain.

The use of near-infrared electromagnetic waves

(wavelengths 700-1000 nm) that penetrates the

brain has now being used to make light images

of brain activity in the head (Villringer &

Chance, 1997).

Galvanic skin response (GSR) recordings of the

skin‟s electrical activity,

Electrocardiographs (EKGs) of the electrical

activity of the heart,

Electromyographs (EMGs) of the electrical

activity in the muscles are also routinely used in

research to record electrical activity associated

with biological functioning.

All this electrical activity occurs, of course, against the

more general background “noise” of the naturally

occurring, random atomic oscillations produced by

ordinarily invisible thermal energy in the human body

which “night vision” scopes detect, amplify, and make

visible to the human eye. As major technological

advancements occur in our ability to detect and measure

various forms of energy, such as SQUID technology, for

example, our understanding of the bioenergetic nature of

life expands. For instance,

“ The discovery of the “SQUID”

(superconducting quantum interference detector)

magnetometer revealed that, in addition to the

EEG, the brain also produced a magnetic field

measurable in space around the head, now called

the „magnetoencephalogram‟ or MEG. The

production of such a magnetic field requires that

actual electrical currents be flowing within the

brain… Thus, to a certain extent, the functional

state of the brain is represented in the external

magnetic field surrounding the head” (Becker,

1990, p. 13).

Interestingly, the MEG has not only demonstrated that

brain functioning results in the production of an external

magnetic field, but has also detected the presence of

submicroscopic traces of magnetic material in the brain

(referred to in the field of bioelectromagnetics as the

“magnetic organ”) (Becker, 1990b).

Why psychologists are reluctant to accept the idea of

human energy field. Although psychologists and

physicians have long recognize the electromagnetic

reality of mind and body, mainstream biomedical and

biological psychology has been reluctant to acknowledge

the existence of a human energy field that surrounds the

entire body. One reason for this reluctance is the

philosophic commitment to a Newtonian-based physics

that has dominated modern psychology. This commitment

has created a barrier to psychology‟s ability to integrate

the theories of modern physics into its understanding of

the human body (Moss, 1979).


94

The neurone doctrine. The “neurone doctrine” that

currently holds sway in modern biopsychology is one

example of Newtonian thinking in modern psychology.

The neurone theory contends that all operations of the

physical brain are the result of nerve impulses alone or

their associated processes. Although a nerve impulse can

be detected electrically, the brain and central nervous

system operates by a traveling wave of alternating

polarization and depolarization along the membrane of

the axon (action potentials), not as an electrical current

per se. Brain waves are simply the by-products of the

action potentials of groups of nerve cells, not electricity

per se. Electricity and magnetism, in other words, play

no known role in neural transmission. Magnetic fields,

even those of great strength, tend to have little or no

effect upon nerve impulses. Minute electrical currents

and low strength electromagnetic fields in the

environment were thus believed to have little biological

effect on living organisms since there were no

conceivable mechanisms within the body for them to be

detected or transmitted.

EEG invented to study telepathy-brain wave link.

This effectively rules out, of course, the very possibility

for the existence of extrasensory perception or

information (energy) reception and transmission of

electrical currents and magnetic fields within the human

body. It is interesting to note in this context that German

psychiatrist Hans Berger‟s 1929 invention of the

electroencephalograph (EEG) and subsequent discovery

of human brain waves was initially motivated to test the

hypothesis that brain waves provided the basis for

telepathic phenomena (Becker, 1990a). Although Berger

was convinced of the validity of telepathic phenomena

(having been involved in a vivid ESP episode himself),

he later concluded that the strength of the EEG was too

small to provide a vehicle for such communication.

The new discipline of bioelectromagnetics. The field of

bioelectromagnetics emerged in the 1950‟s, however,

because of growing evidence that a wide variety of

biological effects (e.g., healing bone fractures, cell

growth, nerve impulse transmission, and blood

chemistry) could be produced by the application of low

level direct electrical current (DC) and low strength,

slowly pulsating electromagnetic (EM) fields (Becker,

1990b) to living systems. Although theoretically

speaking, there was no known mechanism for DC and

EM fields to operate at the cellular level, data indicated

that such biological effects nevertheless occur (e.g.,

Weaver & Astumain, 1990). Extra low frequency (ELF)

electromagnetic fields, for instance, that make up much

of our human-made EM fields is now recognized to have

biological effects on embryonic growth, cell division,

and incidence of cancer (e.g., Wilson et al., 1990).

Dual internal control system. In order to explain the

biological effects of low strength DC currents and EM

fields on living organisms, Robert O. Becker, professor of

orthopedic surgery, and Frank Brown of Northwestern

University proposed the existence of dual-track nervous

system consisting of two-fold electromagnetic/

neurological aspects located primarily in perineural cells

which accompany all nerve fibers throughout the human

body (Becker, 1990b). One track makes up the complex

sensory-motor nervous system that provides for our five

sensory systems and regulates behavior and transmits

information in terms of sequential action potentials (i.e.,

digitally); the second track forms a primitive DC electrical

system that relates the body to external electromagnetic

fields and controls basic functions of growth, healing, and

biological cyclic behavior and “transmits information in an

analog fashion by means of electrical currents and

magnetic fields” (Becker, 1990a, p. 12). This new

paradigm does not replace the traditional neurone doctrine

but supplements it with a more basic internal control

system that acknowledged the scientific discoveries of the

past 30 years. Robert O. Becker summarizes his new

paradigm of the nature of life.

“Living things may now be viewed as basically

electromagnetic in nature, possessing an internal,

organized, analog type, DC electrical system that

regulates the basic functions of growth and

healing, provides the basic operational level for

brain activity, and produces magnetic fields of a

specific nature that are detectable outside of the

body. The operations of this electrical control

system are regulated, in part, by the magnetic

organ and the pineal gland, which detect the

status of the geomagnetic field and directly relate

the organism to its electromagnetic environment.

In this fashion, all living things are intimately tied

to the natural geomagnetic fields of the earth”

(Becker, 1990b, p. 13).

Intriguing studies now indicate that the earth‟s

geomagnetic field (GMF) has demonstrable effects on psi

functioning showing that extrasensory perception such as

telepathy and clairvoyance (“remote viewing”)

performance is better on days when the GMF is quiet (see

Radin, 1997, p. 314, footnote 13 for a partial listing of

studies following up on the GMF-psi relationship).


95

Theories of quantum physics are counterintuitive to

ordinary sensory perception and to conventional

Newtonian understanding of physical objects, including

the body, as solid, individual, stable, and mindless.

Modern physics, however, has amply confirmed that the

body may be perceived and understood as energy rather

than only as matter. Energy may be regarded as the inner

aspect and matter as the outer aspect of the transpersonal

body. Michael Murphy in his 1992 book The Future of

the Body (Appendix F) lists numerous experimental

studies and historical accounts regarding the subtle energy

body and the extraordinary creativity in the conditions

and states that energy and matter may take.

Psychiatrist Eric Leskowitz in his 1993 article “Spiritual

Healing, Modern Medicine, and Energy” observes that

“the language of biomagnetism …can potentially describe

the physical basis for spiritual processes. The

technological evidence is beginning to mount…that

biomagnetic field interactions mediate these phenomena”

(p. 52). Kirlian photography, for instance, detects the

biomagnetic aspects of this energy field and shows that it

fluctuates with a person‟s state of consciousness (Tiller,

1974).

John White and Stanley Krippner in their 1977 book

Future Science: Life Energies and the Physics of the

Paranormal identify 93 different names for the “X

energy” – a fifth force in nature not yet recognized by

modern science - underlying all normal and paranormal

phenomena proposed by ancient traditions and

contemporary investigators since the beginning of

recorded history (White & Krippner, 1977, pp. 550-555).

Whether its called Prana (Hindu), Qi or Ch‟i (Chinese),

Ki (Japanese), Nous (Plato), Yesod (Cabalist), Vis

Medicatrix Naturae (Hipprocrates), Formative Cause

(Aristotle), Holy Spirit (Christians), Facultas Formatrix

(Galen, Kepler), Baraka (Sufi), Manu (Polynesian),

Anima Mundi (Avicenna), Huaca (Peruvians), Ruach

(Hebrew), Manitu (Algonquin Indians), Mungo

(Sudanese), Ngai (African Masi), Arunquiltha

(Australian Aborigines), Animakl Magnetism (Mesmer),

Life Force (Galvani), Gestaltung (Goete), Odic Force

(Reichenbach), astral light (Vlavatsky), Libido (Freud),

Etheric Formative Forces (Steiner), Hormic Engergy

(McDougall), Elan Vital (Bergson), entelechy (Aquainas,

Driesch), Orgone (Reich), Negative Entrophy

(Schroedinger), psi (Rhine), Synergy (Maslow), Unitary

Principle in Nature (Whyte), noetic energy (Muses), or

Magentoelectricity (Tiller), the notion that there is a

“subtle” (just beyond normal human perception) field of

energy around the human body is ancient.


96

Seven layers of the human energy body. Various

ancient traditions and contemporary investigators assert

that the human energy field has a number of distinct

layers, or strata, extending outward from the body. One

common system of nomenclature refers to seven layers,

with each layer becoming more subtle or more difficult to

perceive than the one before it. Leskowitz (1993)

proposes that the seven layers of body energies may be

ordered along a continuum or spectrum ranging from the

more concrete or tangible to the more intangible or subtle.

All layers of energy interpenetrate and divisions are

arbitrary. There are no real division to the body of energy

that composes all living things.

The first layer of energy, the energy body that is closest in

size to the physical body, is believed to form the energy

matrix or blueprint for the human body and involved in

guiding and shaping the growth of the physical body. In

the Western mystical tradition (e.g., Theosophy), this

energy form is called the “etheric body” (Leadbody,

1980). It is at this level that “prana” energy is awakened,

harnessed, and directed by yogic physical postures and

breathing practices, and “chi” energy is awakened,

harnessed, and directed by acupuncture and chi gung

healing. These are the energies that are manipulated by

Therapeutic Touch (TT) and that are responsible for the

chemical changes and enhanced rate of wound healing

observed (Kunz, 1985). This is the layer of energy called

libido (Freud), orgone (Reich), and élan vital (Bergson)

reflected in the physical health of the body. The power of

universal life energy is addressed in healing at the level of

the etheric body.

The second layer of energy forms the “astral body,” also

called the emotional body. The broad range of emotions

and feeling-tones and their intensities are reflected in this

energy body. Repression, suppression, or denial of

feelings cause energy blockages that are reflected in the

emotional energy body. Emotional health of the astral

body means acknowledging feelings when they arise and

expressing them when appropriate. The energy of the

emotional or astral body is awakened, harnessed, and

directed through psychodynamic and expressive

psychotherapy. The power of emotion is addressed in

healing at the level of the emotional body.

The third layer of energy forms the mental body, also

called “thought form.” The mental body reflects the

electromagnetic, light, and sound values that accompany

thought. Conditioned patterns of thoughts, beliefs, and

expectations, both conscious and subconscious, contribute

to the formation of a self-image that is reflected in the

energy patterns displayed in this energy form. This

energy body reflect the mental health of the individual.

the mental or thought form body manipulated by

visualization and cognitive restructuring therapies.

The power of thought is addressed in healing at the level

of the mental body.

These three “subtle realms” (etheric, emotional, mental)

comprise the energy field called the “aura.”

A fourth layer of energy forms the intuitive or “causal

body.” The energy of the causal body is the source of

spiritual intuition often associated with mystical

experience, dream body work, and parapsychological

phenomena. The power of intuition is addressed in

healing at the level of the causal body (Vaughn, 1979).

The remaining three subtle bodies of energy that surround

the human body have to do with the transpersonal realms

of the Higher Self or soul and more profound states of

spiritual perception, insight, and functioning.

Nine chakras on the human energy body. According to

yogic literature we also have special energy centers in our

body called “chakras” that are connected or influence the

endocrine glands and the major nerve centers in the body

at certain “gates” located along the spine (“chakra” is the

Sanskrit word for “wheel” because they resemble

spinning vortices of energy).

Detecting and measuring the human energy field.

Existing just below normal human perception (hence the

name “subtle”), the various layers of the human energy

field are perceptible only by using special equipment

(e.g., Kirlian photography devices, radionics,

psychotronic generators, the Motoyama device,

superconducting quantum interference devices) (Becker,

1990; Ostrander & Schroeder, 1974; Tiller, 1974; White

& Krippner, 1977) or to individuals who have a specially

developed capacity to see it, either by birth, by

spontaneously, or as the result of the practice of a spiritual

discipline (Benor, 1993a, 1993b, 1993c; Leadbeater,

1980; Brennan, 1987; Kunz, 1985, 1991; Butler, 1978).

The human energy field can possess various colors related

to a person‟s physical health and activity level, emotional

state, mental state, and assorted other factors. It is the

human energy body that healers address for diagnosis and

treatment of health-related issues. An exchange of energy

has been reported to occur between healer and healees at

the site of the laying on of hands in the form of subjective

sensations of heat, tingling, vibrations, colors, and cold

(Benor, 1993a, !993b, 1993c). Similar sensations have

been reported to occur during healings from a distance

(Dossey, 1993).


97

Physicist Barbara Brennan. Physicist Barbara Brennan

(1987) can make startlingly accurate medical diagnoses

based on which she can see. As a physicist, Brennan

believes that the Karl Pribram- David Bohm holographic

model of physical reality provides the best scientific

model for understanding the phenomenon of human

energy fields. That the human energy field emerges from

an electromagnetic frequency domain that transcends

space and time, exists everywhere, and is nonlocal

explains how distant-healing is made possible and how

Brennan can accurately read a person‟s aura even when

the person is thousands of miles away.

Neurologist and psychiatrist Shafica Karagulla. Shafica Karagulla, a doctor of medicine and surgery and a

former research associate of Wilder Penfield, in her 1967

book Breakthrough to Creativity describes her encounters

with famous surgeons, university professors of medicine,

department heads in large hospitals, physicians, and other

members of the medical profession who report an ability

to see the human energy field. Karagulla calls this faculty

“higher sense perception,” or HSP. He book documents

that many members of medical profession have HSP

abilities. “When many reliable individuals independently

report the same kind of phenomena, it is time science

takes cognizance of it” (Karagulla, 1967, pp. 78-79).

Nurse Dolores Krieger. Dolores Krieger, professor of

nursing at New York University and student of

clairvoyant Dora Kunz, learned to feel blockages in the

human energy field and to heal patients by manipulating

the field with her hands (Krieger, 1985). Realizing the

enormous medical potential and benefits of the technique

that came to be called “Therapeutic Touch (TT),” Krieger

(1979) has taught the technique to literally thousand of

nurses. Numerous studies have demonstrated the

effectiveness of TT in hospitals around the world (Kunz,

1985).

Physical therapist Valerie Hunt. Professor of

kinesiology at UCLA, Valerie Hunt has used the

electromyography (EMG), a device used to measure the

electrical activity in the muscles, to detect the electrical

presence of the human energy field. As described by

Talbot (1991, pp. 174-178), Hunt detected another

energy field radiating from the body at frequencies that

averaged between 100 and 1600 cycles per second (cps) –

frequencies that are much smaller in amplitude than the

traditionally recognized body electricity that usually can

range between 0 and 250 cps. Hunt noticed that these

high-frequency, low amplitude electromagnetic waves

were strongest in the areas of the body associated with the

yogic chakras. Hunt also discovered a statistically

significant correlation between the colors that aura

readers perceived in the person‟s energy field and the

pattern of frequencies displayed on an oscilloscope, a

device that converts electrical waves into a visual pattern

on a display screen. According to Talbot‟s account:

“When an aura reader saw blue in a person‟s

energy field, Hunt could confirm that it was blue

by looking at the pattern on the oscilloscope. In

one experiment she even tested eight aura

readers simultaneously to see if they would agree

with the oscilloscope as well as with each other.

„It was the same right down the line,‟ said Hunt”

(Talbot, 1991, p. 175).

Hunt also discovered that the human energy field detected

by the EMG responds to stimuli a fraction of a second

before the brain responds as measured by EEG.

According to Talbot‟s account:

“She has taken EMG readings of the energy field

and EEG recordings of the brain simultaneously

and discovered that when she makes a loud

sound or flashes a bright light, the EMG of the

energy field registers the stimulus before it ever

shows up on the EEG” (Talbot, 1991, p. 192).

This means that the human energy field responds to a

stimulus before the individual consciously registers the

response in the brain. Even before the brain starts to

generate the neural signals necessary to accomplish a

physical response, such as a motor movement, the

stimulus is already registered by the body‟s energy field.

Such phenomena do not fit the currently dominant,

Western philosophy of mechanism, materialism, and

reductionism, many psychologists will refuse to even

examine the evidence. Science tends to ignore

phenomena that it is incapable of explaining or incapable

of believing that they exist (after all, why investigate the

reality of a fiction?). But this is hardly a scientific

attitude to take toward the glimpse that such phenomena

provide of the enormous potentialities that lie dormant in

the bodies of all of us. Each of the phenomenon (from

the placebo response to birthmarks and birth defects

suggestive of reincarnation) requires increasingly greater

shifts in our conventional ideas of reality. It is important

for mainstream psychologists to try to understand such

“bizarre” transpersonal phenomena and not just sweep

them under the rug. “As bizarre as [they] sound, [they are]

not so strange when one remembers that in a holographic

universe, consciousness pervades all matter, and

„meaning‟ has an active presence in both the mental and

physical worlds” (Talbot, 1991, p. 145).


98

Karl Pribram’s Holographic Brain. Neuropsychologist

Karl Pribram (1977) noted numerous similarities between

brains and holograms and in 1977 proposed his evocative

holographic model of the brain to account for a number of

other neurophysiological puzzles, including:

The evidence that vision and memory are

holistically dispersed throughout the brain.

Similarly the hologram stores the same wave

pattern across its entire surface. The brain’s

scattered codes across its entire surface allow

memories to survive extensive brain damage.

The finding that both the visual and auditory

systems work as kinds of frequency analyzers

(with single nerve-cells responding selectively to

a limited bandwidth of frequencies, apparently

converting visual images and sound stimuli into

wave forms using a type of Fourier transform

mathematical calculus – the same type of

calculus that led to the initial development of the

lensless photographic process of holography

invented by Nobel laureate Dennis Gabor in

1947). The brain performs certain operations,

coding and decoding sensory input that can be

described by the same mathematics that define

the hologram. The brain stores information in

mathematical codes similar to those used in

holography.

Phantom limb sensations (experiencing virtual

sensations in spatial locations where there are

absolutely no sense receptors). Similarly, a

hologram is a virtual image that appears to be

where it is not and possess no extension in space.

How we construct a “world-out-there” (i.e., we

do not perceive the person we see as being on the

surface of our retinas even though that is where

the image is located). Just as the human brain

constructs images out of sensory message, the

brain projects its own thoughts as holographic

objects in the natural world. What we have is a

holographic brain that creates images which we

perceive as existing outside the brain that

produced them.

The vastness of memory (over the course of an

average human lifetime, the brain stores store

approximately 2.8 x 1020

bits of information).

Just as many different holograms can be

superimposed upon one another, so an infinite

number of memories can be stored inside our

brains.

Qualities like color, texture, dimensions,

luminosity, distance, intensity, movement, shape,

and other variables must be processed by the

brain simultaneously in a pattern. The brain

stores information in the form of interference

patterns, patterns of interacting waves similar to

those formed when light beams collide.

Just as a television camera converts an image into

electromagnetic frequencies and are carried by waves to a

television set that converts those frequencies back into the

original image, a similar process is achieved by the

holographic brain. The holographic brain, like the visual

system and the auditory system, works as a kind of

frequency analyzer, responding to the frequency of coded

electromagnetic, light, and sound values of nonphysical

thought, feelings, and volition converting them into ideas

and images, emotions and impulses, sensory experiences

and motor movements. Just as you cannot physically

locate the image anywhere on the holographic film, so

also you cannot physically locate the mind in the brain.

“One of the things that makes holography possible

is a phenomenon known as interference.

Interference is the crisscrossing pattern that

occurs when two or more waves, such as waves

of water, ripple through each other… The

complex arrangement of crests and troughs that

results from such collisions is known as an

interference pattern. Any wavelike phenomena

can create an interference pattern, including

electromagnetic (light, radio) and sound waves.

A hologram is produced is when a single laser

light is split into two separate beams. The first

beam is bounced off the object to be

photographed. The second beam is allowed to

collide with the reflected light of the first. When

this happens they create an interference pattern

which is then recorded on a piece of film….The

image on the film looks nothing at all like the

object photographed [but rather] like concentric

rings…But as soon as another laser beam is

shined through the film, a three-dimensional

image of the original object re-appears….Unlike

normal photographs, every small fragment of

holographic film contains all the information

recorded in the whole” (Talbot, 1991, pp. 14-17)

Beam splitter Photographic

laser beam 2nd beam plate

1st beam

To-Be

Photographed

Object

Such is the evocative theory of the holographic model of

the brain proposed by neuropsychologist Karl Pribram in

his 1977 book Languages of the Brain..


99

Transpersonal Psychology of Mind-Body Communication and Healing

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